Return to News Section

Kids Lured Into Live Internet Sex Shows

 
London , February 10, 2004 (Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald)

Children are being sold for sex on the internet and then rated out of 10 by pedophiles, a UK report warned today.

Some youngsters have been sold by relatives and friends who advertise them online with indecent photographs taken in their own homes. Pre-pubescent boys and girls are also being lured into taking part in live sex shows screened on the web which dozens of perverts pay to watch.

In a shocking report, children's charity (and IFCW member) Barnardo's also warned that new GPRS and 3G mobile phone technology could lead to many more children being abused through the internet.

The report said: "It will increase opportunities for young people to communicate and access websites and other internet services away from the supervision of their caregivers.

"This adds another dimension to the degree and nature of the risks to children."

In a survey of children it has already dealt with, Barnardo's identified 83 who had been sexually abused through the internet and mobile phones. Of those, seven were sold online to pedophiles and one was abused live on the web. 

The report said: "Over the last 18 months we have become aware that children are being advertised or sold for sex via chat rooms and bulletin boards on the internet.

"Not only are children being pimped in this way but these internet sites also inform the inquirer of 'how good a purchase' the child is by rating them from one to 10."

Message boards allow pedophiles to list where children for sale can be found, along with a description or photograph of the child, what sex acts they perform and how much a pimp charges, the report said.

Barnardo's identified one 14-year-old girl whose picture was placed on such a website by an older man who groomed her for prostitution.  "She knew nothing about the site or the fact her photograph had appeared on it but because of the site she could be easily identified by other sex offenders," the report said.

The site was closed down by police but started up again a few days later.

Another case involved a 13-year-old girl who met what she thought was a 13-year-old boy in an internet chat room. After several weeks of e-mailing they agreed to meet and she took along a 16-year-old friend. The man they met was in his twenties. He got them drunk and took the girls to a house where he gave them money and coerced them into having sex with him and each other.
The report said: "It was only after they completed the act that the tipsy girls noticed a red camera light flickering.

"They realised that they had been filmed by a webcam and everything they had done had been beamed out live across the net.

"They made a grab for the camera but the man just laughed and threw money at them.

"The girls both felt shocked, disgusted and dirty.

"They never knew what happened to the tape and were too frightened to ask.

"They have to live with the knowledge that their image will remain on the net forever."

The report concluded: "The selling of children online for live abuse online is a highly calculated and planned sexually abusive activity.

"In general, the perpetrator announces to his group of online peers that he intends to abuse a child on a set date and time.

"Those who wish to watch the live abuse arrange with the active abuser to be online at the set time.

"The payment for this activity may involve money but it may take the form of bartering - for example with images or drugs.

"Evidence is emerging that children, sometimes very young, are being abused in this way by people well known to them - family members, friends of the family and trusted adults such as teachers or youth leaders."

According to the report, the UK had the biggest increase in Europe in the number of children with access to the internet over the past three years. In addition, 52 per cent of seven to 16-year-olds own a mobile phone.

The report pointed out that no one agency has the money or authority to find abused children whose images were posted on the internet and that they could be anywhere in the world. It also questioned the value of using video cameras to enable abuse victims to give evidence in court cases and suggested the process could be counter-productive.

"Well-meaning courts often use the same technology - such as video cameras - which the traumatised children associate with their torture," the report said.

The COPINE Project based at the University of Cork, which monitors the activity of abusers in internet newsgroups, estimates it has seen 60,000 individual child abuse victims. In newer images, there is a trend towards younger children, more serious abuse and pictures taken in domestic surroundings.

Stuart Hyde, ACPO spokesman on combating child abuse on the internet and Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said: "We need to identify future risks that will be created with the new technology that is becoming part of our lives.

"The forthcoming 3G technology will for example create a large business environment and with little investment we are at risk with the criminality it will also create. These are the issues we would like to see changed."

Return to News Section