While private messaging is a great way to keep in touch with people you have met on the forum, we do want you to keep you safe while you’re chatting.

As you are aware our forum is fully moderated and our team are on duty every day of the year, however by their very nature, private messages are not visible to us and so we are not aware if someone is messaging you inappropriately, so it is important you let us know if you are concerned about anything you see posted on  the forum or any messages you may have received.

Below are some tips which will protect you and help keep you safe online:

- Don’t accept a friend request if you don’t know the person, or don’t feel comfortable talking to them away from the public forum. You can only be contacted privately by friends so it is important you don't accept a friend request if you have not already had an interaction with the member on the forum. If you don't know why they are sending you a friend request, check out their posts to make sure they have a genuine reason to want to speak to you in private.

- If you accept a friend request and you no longer wish to speak to that person privately, you can unfriend them at any time: See our help guide on managing friend requests

Contact a moderator immediately if, for any reason, you feel uncomfortable about a message you’ve received. This includes anyone sending you spam, unsolicited information, invitations to connect outside of Cancer Chat (e.g. via email or telephone), or offers of help which seem too good to be true. 

Please be aware that the Cancer Chat moderation team will not view your private messages unless you report something to us or alert us of anything that breaks the terms and conditions. You can contact us at cancerchat@cancer.org.uk

- If you’re thinking of meeting up with a person you’ve chatted with privately, please stay safe. You’ll see from our Terms & conditions that we advise caution if you want to meet another Cancer Chat user. If you do choose to meet another member, you do so at your own risk and should take common sense precautions.

- If you would rather not be contacted by private message, you can turn this feature off. See our Help Guide for instructions. 

We want to assure you that your privacy and safety is paramount, but please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time if you have any concerns.