Online exploitation cases on the rise - here's how and why predators are targeting Kiwi kids

Apps like Snapchat have become a breeding ground for sex abuse material, while overseas groups are actively participating in sadistic online exploitation. And it's not just happening offshore. With two sisters this week sharing their story of being targeted by a Wellington man masquerading as an eleven year old girl in Zied. Herald investigative reporter Michael Mora has been looking into this case for months and joins us today on

the front Page to explore what's happening online. So, Michael, how did you come to investigate this particular field.

a cartoon. But at the moment, technology is just everywhere, and in a way, children and young people are growing up with this. They're growing up seeing their parents attached to these phones, swiping these phones, and it is consistently

kind of in their face. And I guess why I started to look into this field was because of the rise and concerns around the world and also here in New Zealand about the damage that early access can cause, but also the way in which social media companies have expanded,

and that's been massive in the past ten years. There are so many different platforms, all eager to get eyes and ears onto them, and this in turn presents a problem because a lot of these spaces are designed by their very nature to be sites that are encrypted or protected, and they anonymize use and they allow engagement with other people around the world, which on the face of it sounds fine. But the problem is is that predators and pedophiles know that this is a very easy way to

target children. And I think that's horrific and there are many examples of police investigations into this sort of thing.

to New Zealand Police. Now, these referrals come from a place called neck MECH or the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children in the US, so they get information on problematic communications or images and then they go right, this is happening in New Zealand. And actually this user who is obtaining these images or video, objection and or material is based in New Zealand, so those referrals are going there. Now we're also seeing increases on other social

media platforms like TikTok roadblocks. Of course, the social media companies would say, oh, well, this is happening because we have really good systems in place now where we are reporting more. We have better ways for people to make complaints or make referrals within the app. And that may well be true. But the other point I would make that would be true is that these referrals from the US to New Zealand police would only be a tiny fraction of the actual harm that is going on.

The concerns are real, and the referrals and the number of investigations that they are involved in is increasing massively year on year, and there's also various developments in terms of how some of these predators are operating. Our listeners may sort of think about sextortion, which is one of the classic ones. You extract an objectionable picture from a young per and then say, look, if you don't give

me this amount of money, I will do xyz. There are now a new breed of sadistic, right wing young people online who are not actually interested in obtaining money, but they are trying to get some of the most frightening, cruel, degrading and violent material from young people for the sole purpose of building online clout and reputation amongst other like minded people. And the purpose of doing this is that they want to create ultimately social disorder, and so they

do this by targeting the younger generation. One of the big problems I think is that as parents, you go about the day and think, gosh, well that's a horrific story, but it won't happen to my kid because we're keeping an eye on things. But that's naive. I think there are people out there waiting for opportunities to exploit young people, waiting for opportunities who strike up some form of fake relationship. And you've got to remember the age of some of

the kids who end up with devices. I mean, they're not adults. They want to make friends, they want to join people on games, and that's just human nature.

very real. And of course we have heard from police, we have heard from the Department of Internal Affairs, and we've got great organizations like before sixteen in that movement starting up, which seems to have the support of the Prime Minister. But what's unique about this story is that we hear the true story from the mother and the victims. The mother, in my view, Victoria did take precautions, and

this is what's really interesting. The first time that her two daughters had some form of interaction or learnings about a person who ended up being a pedophile was in the primary school. Library, the most innocent of childhood spaces.

are so fun. It was at that time that the friend said to them, oh, well look at this. I've got a friend. She's an eleven year old from Australia and she's liking my videos and she's commenting on my videos. Of course, the two girls I interviewed thought, this is so cool. An eleven year old from Australia. That's fantastic.

And look at this engagement and wow, that's amazing. The mother in this case eventually did get her girl's phones for safety reasons, like many parents are doing now if their kids are walking to and from school, for safety reasons, so they can be contacted. All the time, and this is what was happening with her girls. She did not allow social media on these phones. But the girls, who had witnessed their peers at school seeing Zoomerang in this account,

really wanted this this app. So you face that sort of dilemma as a parent, and you know, Victoria in this case, she consulted other mothers at the school. She asked around what zoom rang like, Are there any concerns you know? Everyone said, look, we don't have any concerns about this, and so she allowed this app, which she

thought was innocuous and harmless, to be downloaded. And this of course was the time where the girls thought, well, we must add the fun girl from Australia, this eleven year old, because she seems cool and she's been liking our other friends videos, so we want to make friends too.

kids phones and you shouldn't give them social media. This was in the view of the mother, it was a targeted sophisticated and tactical approach by someone who pretended to be an eleven year old girl who we work out was never an eleven year old girl, and what she asked the girls to do, and this took weeks and weeks of trust building right sending the right emojis, building up self esteem, talking with the girls about wow, look we've got so much in common. You like the same

color as me. That's amazing. I mean, it's just really innocent things that plays on the vulnerability and naivety of these young girls. Once he knew that he had their trust and that the messaging was becoming more regular, and that he had learned a lot about them and their school and their friend group, he then shifted them, unbeknown to their mum, onto other platforms like Discord, like Snapchat, like Telegram, which we know the latter is an encrypted

text messaging service. Now, why would you want to move a child onto Telegram? Two pre teen girls onto such a platform. This is when it all started beginning with asking questions like hey, do you guys own crop tops? And it became more and more serious in terms of what this person wanted while extracting child sex abuse images from the two girls. He reminded them, do not tell

anyone about this. And by the way, if someone does find out about this, like your mum, I will have to get you blocked from these apps that I've helped get you onto, and you don't want to lose access to that. You know, my own daughters if they're on something and I say no, sorry, you've gone over your limit or you're not behaving and I'm banning you for a week from this, it is a huge deal. There was a big meltdown. Saying you can't do this on a device is a massive thing. So the girls were

under pressure. At the same time, when I talk about the tactics of some of these predators, he was colluding with other pedophiles around the world on how to ensure that the girls would keep quiet and that he would still be and how best to extract the information in a confidential manner from them, and he largely succeeded at doing this, even to the extent that he told the girls, if mum comes along and asks about who you're chatting to, you show her these messages, ones that were from early

on in the piece that were safe and appeared harmless. And appeared very friendly and genuine. And of course the mother did look at these and she thought, okay, well that all seems legit. I will permit the conversations to continue, not knowing how her daughters were being exploited at that point. And what did you think when your mum told you, guys that your friend was a man?

online relationship looks like. Make sure they understand that if anyone suggests to you, would you mind taking a picture of yourself without your clothes on, that you can feel safe to talk to another adult myself a teacher, and that that is not right. And the crazy thing about it is that these conversations here to be had with children at a very early age. But you know, you've got to be, as a mother articulated to me, be

careful in how you're conveying this information. You might want to keep it as simple as saying, well, look, if someone is asking you for a picture without your clothes on, you have to tell someone about that because that's not right and that's your body and you have to protect yourself and make sure that you feel safe to talk to other people people. But then we also have you know,

some of the other movements that are starting up. We know that the before sixteen group has launched wanting to essentially following the footsteps of Australia by banning social media for under sixteen year olds. And look, I support what they are trying to do here, and I support it as a parent for a few reasons. But one of the really hard things is that and just like with Amy and Ivy in their situation, as soon as your kid's friends have got these devices or an iPad or

a phone. All of a sudden, there's this great need. I need one, you know, I really need one. And it's almost like if we just could remove that from the equation, or at least remove some of these access to platforms from the equation and said well, look sorry, but it's actually against the law or you can't have this,

and it's all an even playing field. I think it would make it a lot easier for parents and I I don't really accept the argument offered at one stage by the Minister for Internal Affairs Brook van Velden that oh, well, it's appearance responsibility and so all the best appearance. Absolutely it is, and absolutely you have to have these conversations. But where is the responsibility on some of these big tech companies that are creating these environments where predators thrive.

I mean, these offenders are no longer hanging out at the playground watching kids through a window. They're no longer

in a van with a bag of lollies. If that sort of thing ever occurred, I don't know if that was more of a myth, But what I'm saying is that it has been made so easy for people who want to prey on our most vulnerable to get access to them, and they can do it all from the comfort of their own home anywhere in the world, and we are seeing the evidence of this in New Zealand on a daily weekly.