By John DiGirolamo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
You wouldn’t let your middle schooler wander the mall by herself, so why would you let her wander the Internet alone? If your child has online access, then every predator all over the world potentially can contact your kid.
Is this a risk that parents should be worried about?
First, it’s important to understand why predators are on the Internet, online games and social media. Predators are after kids for several reasons: First, to obtain explicit material. Second, to extort someone for money and third, to meet for a sexual encounter.
Frequently, the predator may be seeking a combination of the three. Dawn Hawkins, CEO for National Center on Sexual Exploitation noted on X (formerly Twitter), “Child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, rape, pornography – they have all merged online in today’s digital world.”
Officer David Gomez went undercover online as a thirteen-year-old girl.
Every parent should take note of what happened next.
Officer Gomez created a fake profile as a thirteen-year-old girl on a popular social media platform. This was done easily in a matter of minutes. Within twenty-four hours, the “thirteen-year-old” received multiple friend\follower requests from complete strangers.
The fake profile accepted the request, and within minutes, contact was made using a private message, trying to chat up the “girl.” Within fifteen minutes, the fake profile had several new “friends\followers” and more than one asked for nude pictures. The profile was set up in a way where the child’s face was not distinguishable and was clearly indicated as a minor.
Contact by the predator was purposeful. Twelve hours later, predators requested the child to go out on a dinner date, as well as offers to receive a makeover at a local motel.
Through private messaging, the predator made explicit and incriminating proposals, detailing his intentions.
The fake profile agreed to meet at a local motel where Officer Gomez and team promptly arrested a middle-aged man. They were able to confiscate his electronic device and discovered that the criminal had sent over 100 friend\follower requests to middle school girls.
Of those contacted, 90% accepted the request without question.
The criminal also convinced over twenty middle school children to send him nude photos. He was using those images for his own use and sharing them with other collectors of child pornography (Child Sexual Abuse Material.)
The man was arrested on a Friday night and missed his dinner plans.
The guests were wondering why the man missed his own wedding rehearsal dinner. He was scheduled to get married the very next day.
His fiancée had a daughter from a previous relationship. Guess how old the daughter was? Thirteen years old. Truth is stranger than fiction.
What are the takeaways?
- It’s easy for anyone, including predators, to set up fake profiles. They may approach a child with an adult age profile or one with a similar age to the person they are trying to target.
- Most teens see online relationships as an equivalent of someone they have met in person. They often view these as trusted friends.
- Most teens get an ego boost when they receive a friend\follower request and it’s common for many teens to have over a thousand social media connections.
- Teens consider a large number of friends\followers as a validation of their popularity rather than a risk. Predators know this and that’s why it is so common that a teen will accept a friend request without asking any questions.
- Predators commonly use private messaging to contact an unsuspecting vulnerable minor.
Perhaps you have sons and think there is no need to worry. Think again. The next installment in this multipart article will review the specific ways predators target teenage boys.
Officer David Gomez’s story is profiled in It’s Not About the dEvil, a dramatized nonfiction book by John DiGirolamo, which features stories about people fighting modern evil. For more information about Officer Gomez, visit: https://www.facebook.com/deputygomez
John DiGirolamo is a speaker and critically acclaimed Christian author of four books, featuring stories of police officers, human trafficking advocates and survivors and a prolife doctor. His third book, It’s Not About the Predator: A Parent’s Guide to Internet & Social Media Safety, is a practical 65-page booklet to help parents keep their kids safe online. The book details the predator’s playbook, grooming tactics, and specific proactive actions for parents. John is the Board President of Bringing our Valley Hope, whose objective is to end human trafficking in central Colorado through education and survivor support. He’s also on the parent’s council of Defend Young Minds, a nonprofit that equips parents to defend their children from the harm of pornography. John is a member of the Chaffee County Patriots and his books are sold on Amazon. More information can be found: https://itisnotabout.com/
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.