Three people were captured between Bogotá and Bucaramanga for child pornography, a crime whose complaints have increased by leaps and bounds in the last decade, according to authorities’ records. For this reason, organizations such as PaPaz focus on prevention, guiding and informing parents on how to protect children from any kind of abuse through networks.
How to catch a pedophile
The alarm on three alleged pedophiles in Colombia was given by the United States Immigration and Customs Agency, which has agents dedicated exclusively to the detection of crimes against children.
In the suspects’ records, an Internet load of 287 incriminating files, including images and videos, of the explicit sexual content of children was found. The alert arrived in Colombia and the investigators of the Dijín (National Police of Colombia) started to work. They analyzed the information, made the detection in the neighborhoods and, finally, the arrests.
In the corresponding raids, 25 devices were found —including computers, phones, hard drives, and memories— with hundreds of explicit images showing scenes of child abuse, even under 10 years. In total, 2,900 files that reported the crime were detected.
Although the researchers determined that the detainees are consumers of child pornography. They also indicated that going from the attraction to that kind of material to the children’s physical abuse is very simple.
Kit to avoid pedophiles in the web
The PaPaz Network together with the ICBF created an online toolkit so that parents are aware and can prevent and manage the risk of child and teenage sexual abuse in the digital space.
The guide extends from the definition of online sexual abuse to the different kinds of abusers that can be found on the Internet and how they act with children. The guide also shows different ways to recognize them.
Finally, it offers examples of the conversations that abusers can engage with children to manipulate and guide them towards what they want, including using extortion for kids to submit to abuse. One of the most used trends is known as Grooming, or network seduction, a process of which four phases are generally recognized:
- Hitch
- Fidelity
- Seduction
- Harassment
Although not all pedophiles behave the same, these specific abusers take advantage of the curiosity that naturally guides children and teenagers to know everything, both in love relationships and those of a sexual nature. They gain their trust and open up to talk about these issues with these people, to the point of getting them isolated.
Maintaining communication with children and control with a good guide of what they review on the Internet will help us to protect them from these online predators.
