Dutch children's rights activist, Terre des Hommes, have used a computer-generated 10-year-old Philippine girl to lure over 1,000 potential sex predators in a sting operation, the Associated Press reported.
Conducted from a warehouse office in Amsterdam, activist from Terre des Hommes set up the sting in order to stop the fast-growing Internet problem the group calls "webcam child sex tourism," the AP reported.
The group's director, Has Guyt told the AP on Monday that Sweetie, the computer-generated girl, has helped find 1,000 Internet users saying they want to pay a child for sexual activity via webcam.
"If we don't intervene soon, this sinister phenomenon will totally run out of control," Guyt told the AP.
According to Guyt, those interested are usually wealthy men from Western countries who are looking to pay children from impoverished countries, like the Philippines, for sex shows, according to the AP.
"It's still not too late, our worst scenario is that the same thing will happen with this as has happened with child pornography - that is now a multibillion dollar industry in the hands of criminal gangs," Guyt told the AP, adding "We do not need more laws, present legislation is suitable and more than enough to cover these acts."
After Hommes set up the fake profile for Sweetie, trained researchers were blown away by the amount of responses in the matter of time, according to the AP.
During a demonstration for the AP on Monday, a researcher was immediately contacted by people soliciting a girl, Sweetie, who identified herself as being 10-years-old. As the conversation progressed, a $20 fee was agreed upon, and Sweetie asked for the persons Skype address, ending the chat there.
According to Guyt, researchers were able to identify 1,000 adults using basic research techniques from 71 countries soliciting Sweetie, the AP reported. Hommes did not reveal the adult's identities to the media, and passed the results on to Interpol instead.
The United States was the country of top predator origin with 254, followed by Britain with 110 and India with 103, the AP reported. Whether the adults identified will be prosecuted is unknown, Dutch researchers have shown they can locate any of the adults.
Guyt said that in some cases children are forced by their parents to perform sexual acts in front of a camera for money, and once the payment is received, the child performs in front of a webcam in a private chat room, according to the AP.
According to Guyt,Terre des Hommes' goal is use the media to create awareness of the growing problem of webcam child sex and use the Internet to spread the word, the AP reported.
"We have to make sure the world community understands the scale and nature of this phenomenon," Guyt said.
You can click here to sign the petition to stop Webcam Child Sex Tourism.
