Dutch non-governmental organisation ‘Terre des Hommes’ announced it has been able to identify 1,000 paedophiles throughout Europe, including Portugal, by creating a virtual 10-year-old girl named Sweetie who offered online sex for money.
‘Sweetie’ would present herself as a Filipina girl on chat rooms or social networks.
The response she received, members from the organisation said, was “overwhelming”.
“They were ready to pay Sweetie for sexual acts in front of her webcam,” said the head of the group Albert Jaap van Santbrink.
Over 20,000 adults showed interest in virtually abusing the girl. The organisation was able to track 1,000 of them down and their data was sent to Interpol. Three of the peadophiles were operating in Portugal.
However, the organisation fears their ploy may not have been enough to put the sex offenders behind bars – because Sweetie, in the end, did not exist.
Hans Guyt, head of campaigns, said: “According to the UN and the FBI, there are over 750,000 child predators online at any given moment. They are at cybercafés or on Facebook and they ask six-year-olds to do terrible things for money.”
Psychologist Guujse Havenaar explained that a lot of the girls are forced to endure ‘virtual prostitution’ at the behest of their parents.
“The main issue is poverty. Parents force their children to pose in front of the camera for money. We must help these children and their families”.
