Cellphone gifts lure children for sex

In a US study of online sexual offenders last year, 47 per cent had sent gifts to potential victims, including digital cameras and phones. File picture / Mark McKeown

A child internet safety group is warning parents that sexual predators may send their children pre-paid cellphones in order to develop a relationship.

It also warns that as new cellphone technology reaches New Zealand, the potential for predators to track the children's whereabouts with satellite positioning systems is now a "very real threat".

Netsafe, an agency supported by the police, schools and community groups, told a Parentline child summit in Hamilton yesterday that adults who contact children over the internet can buy mobile phones in this country with no identification.

"It's common to send a pre-paid mobile phone to the child. Some offenders even provide bank accounts for the children to top up their mobile phones," said Netsafe therapist Nathan Gaunt.

The evidence of such actions was mostly anecdotal, said Mr Gaunt, but strong and regular enough for Netsafe to warn parents predators might resort to sending children cellphones so they could talk to them in private.

In New Zealand, the cellphones are being used so far only to extend the contact already made through the internet, often to set up face-to-face meetings.

But in the United States the new satellite-based tracking technology is being used to locate a child or another victim.

"People are putting them into a woman's handbag and sticking them under the bumpers of cars," Mr Gaunt said.

"All mobile phones coming into the country might soon be equipped with satellite programming ability."

Mr Gaunt said he first started to hear of local cases of sexual offenders sending cellphones to targeted children about three years ago and was now hearing it more often from colleagues.

In an American study of online sexual offenders last year, 47 per cent had sent gifts to their potential victims, including clothing and digital cameras as well as cellphones.

"I don't know if it would be 47 per cent here, but a significant amount of them would see this as valuable, for two reasons - it would be a direct line to the child, and it's something most children want," Mr Gaunt said.

"The worry is that with cameras and video equipment on telephones, you could ask them to video themselves or a friend or send photos back."

A Netsafe survey this year of a middle-income high school with 1528 students found 73 per cent of them had cellphones and 23 per cent had received an "offensive, pornographic, abusive or threatening text or picture" on their phones.

Mr Gaunt warned youngsters and their schools of the dangers of giving information about themselves on the internet through chatrooms, blogs or even school newsletters. He pointed to a South Island school which had put photos of its gymnastics team on its website with members' names.

"That sort of thing is what the sex offenders are looking for," he said.

Internal Affairs Department inspector Graham Hawken said 174 internet-related sex offenders had been taken to court in New Zealand so far. All had been convicted.

Denise Ritchie, of the anti-prostitution Stop Demand Foundation, said the internet and growing international travel had sparked a worldwide surge in children being seduced or coerced into prostitution.

She cited a police estimate in a report in April identifying 210 sex workers under 18 in New Zealand.