Cyberpredator Is Someone Who Uses

¶ … cyberpredator is someone who uses computer technology and computer networking to lure, seduce, and ensnare children. Often posing as children or teenagers in chat rooms or other online social networks, cyberpredators befriend young girls or boys online with the intent of abusing them. The State of Ohio Attorney General's Office describes the process by which cyperpredators ensnare children "grooming." For instance, the cyberpredator might ask probing questions to discover the child's predilections, weaknesses, or areas of insecurity. Using this information, the cyberpredator can especially target children who are lonely, depressed, sexually curious, or craving more independence from their families. A cyberpredator may arrange a face-to-face meeting with the child in order to perpetrate gross acts of physical or sexual abuse.

Not all cyberpredators arrange face-to-face meetings with their victims. Some keep their pedophilia fantasies online and do not act them out in person. Cyberpredators might fixate on child pornography or maintain long-term, mentally abusive relationships with children. They might solicit pornographic photos from their victims. Therefore, any kind of cyberpredation can be devastating for children. Law enforcement needs to be particularly concerned with any cyberpredator whether or not there is an attempt to arrange meetings with young children.

Advances in computer technology have made it easier for predators to victimize children for several reasons. First, the nature of online communications enables anonymity, allowing the sexual predator to hide behind an almost impenetrable veil. The identity of the cyberpredator can remain secret indefinitely unless law enforcement or tech-savvy sleuths active search for the individual. Especially if the cyberpredator relies on WiFi connections in public-access LANs to avoid a traceable IP address, the perpetrator can maintain anonymity. Free web-based e-mail accounts and instant messaging accounts also allow cyberpredators to remain anonymous while they target their victims.

Second, the Internet allows access to the world and therefore a pedophile can pray on a victim that lives 1000 miles away just as easily as if the intended victim were next door. Technology virtually obliterates geographic distance. A cyberpredator can in fact be more alluring for a disenchanted youth by offering a plane ticket to some exotic location. The enticement of being independent might cause some naive adolescents to travel to meet the cyberpredator, or the cyberpredator can also arrange to fly long distances to meet the intended victim in person.

Third, technology enables long-term and intimate communications that would otherwise not be possible. It would be far more difficult to "groom" children without the Internet except when the pedophile is a member of that child's family or immediate social network without attracting attention. Online grooming can take place over a long period of time, giving the child a chance to develop trust in the predator. This trust-building would not be as possible to establish with a stranger living in the community.