Pedophiles / Online Predators
It is well known that kids are heavy users of Internet communication tools such as social networking, chat rooms, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM). These are all a major part of their social life. Most of the time these tools are harmless and kids will use them to communicate with people they know in the “real world”, and to enhance their social lives. But you should also be aware of the fact that your children may be at potential risk of encountering online predators. This is especially true for those times when kids use these means in order to “meet new friends”, and it’s not always easy for them to tell when "new friends" have bad intentions.
You can’t see me!
Anonymity is a main characteristic of all these tools. Anyone can very easily take on a false identity and pretend to be someone else. Just recently a group of Canadian university students set up a false profile on Facebook of an attractive young girl (for experimentation purposes) and within minutes received dozens of accepts for friendship requests from their classmates, all aged 20 and over. Within 24 hours the girl had 25 new friends, some of whom were asking her out on dates and revealing their inner thoughts in online chat sessions[i].
So, this anonymity can facilitate a sense of intimacy but can also serve to hide the true identity of an online predator. Someone posing as a 15 year old teenager can in actuality be a 37 year old male. Online predators take advantage of this anonymity to build trust and intimacy and to develop online relationships with innocent young boys and girls of all ages. Those Canadian students meant no harm and they erased the false profile a few days later, but an online predator with bad intentions will very easily hide behind a false profile.
What do they want?
Some online predators primarily collect and trade child-pornographic images, while others seek face-to-face meetings with children. Pedophiles can be of any age or sex and do not necessarily fit the image of a dirty, disheveled, older man in a raincoat. It could be your next door neighbor for all you know!
Curios children and adolescents are often interested in sexuality and sexually explicit material and they may look for such materials and individuals when they are online. Sex offenders targeting children will use and exploit this interest.
I’m confused… are “online predators” and “pedophiles” the same thing?
Online predator and pedophile are terms that are often confused. So let’s try to understand the difference between these terms. Technically, online predators are not pedophiles as pedophiles prey on for young children, who haven’t reached puberty yet. Online predators tend to look for young teens. Online predators are sometimes also referred to as “cyber stalkers”.
There is no one single method in which online predators work. But there are several methods that can have been identified as how online predators locate their victims and get them to do what they want, whether it is meeting them in person or simply engaging in some kind of online/on the phone sexual activity.
These are some typical methods online predators use:
•Find kids through social networking, blogs, chat rooms (even monitored, kids chat rooms), instant messaging, e-mail, and other Web sites, often using information in their targets’ personal profiles.
•Seduce their targets through attention, flattery, affection, kindness, and even gifts. These types of manipulation will cause kids to lose their sense of awareness, and help the predators to get from bad intentions to sexual exploitation (this is called “grooming”, and may continue over extended time periods).
•Are familiar with the latest music, hobbies, fashion, etc. that are likely to interest kids.
•Look for children that are emotionally vulnerable due to problems at school or home.
•Listen to and sympathize with kids' problems, while building a pseudo friendship, taking the kids side vis-à-vis their parents or teachers.
•Gradually introduce sexual content into conversations or show sexually explicit material that may even involve children engaging in sexual activity – in order to convince kids that this type of behavior is acceptable.
•If the victim tries to cut off communication, predators scare the victim into continuing the relationship by convincing them that they will tell their parents what they have been doing online and that they have viewed pornographic pictures, etc.
•May impersonate other youths in order to convince minors to meet with them.
You probably want to know if online predators are common and if this sort of thing happens often. Here are some interesting facts about online sexual predators:
These are some typical methods online predators use:
•Approximately 93 percent of all Americans between 12 and 17 years old are internet users (as of 2007)
•One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet says they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give out personal sexual information. (only 25% of those told a parent)
•About 30% of the victims of Internet sexual exploitation are boys.
•Internet sexual predators tend to fall between the ages of 18 and 55, although some are older or younger. Their targets tend to be between the ages of 11 and 15
•In 100% of the cases, teens that are the victims of sexual predators have gone willingly to meet with them.
•There are over 644,865 Registered Sex Offenders in the United States (2008).
•Teens are willing to meet with strangers: 16 percent of teens considered meeting someone they've only talked to online and 8 percent have actually met someone they only knew online.
•75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
Predators can be a he or a she, young or old, rich or poor, any race or zip code, but they have one commonality: they are master manipulators when it comes to children.
Steering Steps Pro Social Behavior: Online Predators
630.258.8745
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Medinah, IL 60157
