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Pedophiles increasingly using social media to target girls

Aug. 27, 2012 - 16:49 By Korea Herald
(123rf)


Pedophiles are increasingly targeting victims through social networking sites, according to news sources. The U.K.’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center said it has been receiving an increasing number of reports of older men trying to groom and convince younger girls to perform sexual acts on webcams.

According to CEOP, the number of reports of inappropriate online behavior has increased from 400 a month to 1,000 in just a few years.

The older predators create accounts on networking sites, like Facebook, pretending to be younger. Then they find vulnerable children and establish a relationship of trust between themselves and the victims before persuading them to do sexually exploitative acts. These acts include having the children take nude pictures of themselves.

The situation has worsened with the rise of the webcam and an increase in pre-teens who are gaining access to networking accounts. Also, campaigners of CEOP believe that the availability of adult images online may lead to young girls viewing sexual behavior as normal.

In a report given earlier this summer, CEOP concluded, “Whilst grooming children for sexual purposes is not new, the use of sometimes subtle social engineering techniques to this end appears to be a relatively recent phenomenon.

“Offenders will use various methods to coerce a child into giving their username and password for a social networking site. Compromising the child’s social networking presence in this way is used by the offender to get the child to perform sexual acts or send indecent images online.

“This then forms the basis for further threats and incitement to perform increasingly serious sexual acts.”

CEOP believes that child exploiters are attracted to taking advantage of children who do not have privacy settings in place.


From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)



<관련 한글 기사>


SNS 통해 어린 소녀들 노리는 파렴치범들


영국에서 소셜 네트워크 사이트 (SNS)를 통한 아동 성범죄 피해가 늘어나고 있다.

영국의 아동착취 및 온라인보호센터(Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center: CEOP)은 최근 나이 많은 남성들이 어린 소녀들에게 온라인 상에서 성적인 행동을 하도록 유도하는 경우가 크게 늘었다고 발표했다.

CEOP가 발표한 자료에 따르면 지난 몇 년간 온라인 상의 ‘부적절한 행위’가 한 달에 400건에서 1,000건으로 늘었다고 한다.

이러한 범죄자들은 주로 페이스북 등의 SNS를 이용하는데, 이들은 온라인 상에서 실제 나이를 속인 뒤 어린 소녀들로부터 신뢰를 얻어 성범죄를 저지른다고 한다.

현지 언론 보도에 따르면 이러한 범죄는 웹캠 (컴퓨터와 연결하여 사용할 수 있는 인터넷용 캠코더) 보급의 증가와 아동들의 인터넷 접속 시간 증가와 더불어 점점 많아졌다고 한다.

CEOP는 얼마전 발표한 자료에서 아동성범죄가 새로운 것은 아니지만 SNS 등 신기술을 이런 식으로 사용하는 것은 비교적 최근의 현상이라고 밝혔다.