16yo wants to write to oversea online friend- advice

[Myotis]

Hiya

My 16yo DD has met a friend online (via insta), female, and has seen her on screen and chatted. She wants to send her a letter …. Is there any reason why this would not be a good idea? I mean, I had pen pals when I was younger and I am sure she is being sensible but passing our address to a stranger seems weird.

I haven’t met them- I know maybe I should ask to do that…. But that might be weird too given she is actually 16.

any thoughts appreciated….

Why would that even be necessary? It seems like a bad idea to me as SM reveals a lot about us and to give a stranger added info such as an address sounds a bit like a red flag imo.

Pen pals were used when we weren’t so free with our personal information.

Why cant she just keep communicationg with her on social media? Writing a letter seems an odd thing in this day and age. But if she wants to she could do so without giving out your home address as long as she doesnt want a letter back that is.

I would be wary about giving too much personal information especially if the idea has come from the friend.

A letter attached to an email address might be a compromise.

Thanks for the replies
I’ll dig a bit more as to the reasons

Red flag completely. I can assure you the friend will want to come meet your DD or invite her to fly abroad to go meet this friend next or your address will be used for fraud .

Writing physical letters to each others home addresses is absurd in this day and age and that is even for the older generations like mine (I am more than double your DD's age ) and from the pen pal era .

Proceed with caution . Your address is probably the missing piece in the scam .

And although it may appear like an innocent interaction between two 16 year olds you don't know who is working with the other 16 year old .