Online sex predators on rise

BIGGER THREAT: Australian police say teenagers are increasingly vulnerable as more predators go online.

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A growing number of internet-savvy sex predators are preying on vulnerable teenagers.

Victoria Police have confirmed that organised criminal networks and individuals in and outside Australia have been grooming children for illegal sex and the number of predators is rising.

The prolific growth of online social network sites has provided a ready-made playground for predators to seek out potential victims, earn their trust and then sexually exploit or abuse them.

Federal police statistics show that 152 people have been charged in the past 18 months with online child sex exploitation. The Australian Institute of Criminology has warned that the opportunities to sexually exploit children through the internet will increase.

Raymond Choo, a senior research analyst with the institute, said more than 50 per cent of teenagers in the developed world used social networking sites, and this made it easier for paedophiles to track down victims.

''In the past they would have to go to playgrounds or schools. Now they are doing it from the comfort of their own homes and there are no borders - international or state,'' Mr Choo said.

He said technological advances had made it easier for predators to ''reach out to children and young people, and explore their deviant sexual fantasies''.

Mr Choo said that by connecting with like-minded individuals they could convince each other that their adult-child fantasies were not wrong.

The head of the Victoria Police sexual crimes squad, Detective Inspector Glenn Davies, said police were working harder to catch internet predators and ''the harder we work the more we uncover''.

''The public are becoming more educated about this type of thing and they are reporting it more,'' he said.

He said there was no stereotype for internet predators - they came from all walks of life.

''They vary from business people, to people with steady jobs, to criminals. It cuts across everything; there is no particular profile for people who groom kids online.

''We investigate them all if they are involved in criminal activity,'' he said.

However, he said there were also groups in Australia and overseas that met online and tried to find ways around police surveillance.

Police at a state and national level are trying to infiltrate these groups.

- © Fairfax NZ News