54 Canadians Caught In ‘Sweetie’ Sting With 10-Year-Old ‘Virtual’ Girl (VIDEO)

A computer-generated 10-year-old Filippino girl called Sweetie

The Amsterdam-based child advocacy group “Terres des Hommes” (Land of Men) conducted a global sting of child paedophile sting across 71 countries involving adults willing to pay to watch what they believed was a ten-year-old Filipino girl engage in sex acts on an adult. The group says that over 1,000 people took part in the illegal activity among which were 54 Canadians.

A member of the group who identified himself as “Peter” to maintain anonymity and avoid retaliation expressed his personal horror at how willing people were to participate in the crime with no thought of being exposed. The group was able to supply Interpol (International Police) with the contact information (names, addresses, phone numbers, & e-mail address) of the cyber patrons.

Hans Guyt, the Terre des Hommes special projects director said, “The moment we got online, we were swamped, like an avalanche.”

He added: “These people think they are invisible. These people think they are untouchable.”

“Our worst scenario is that the same thing will happen with this as has happened with child pornography – that is now a multi-billion dollar industry in the hands of criminal gangs.”

Never at any time was an actual child at risk. The group fabricated the existence of a ten-year-old girl who went by the code name of “Sweetie”.

“It’s frightening to see that these people think that the Internet is a completely lawless space,” said one of the researchers for the group, who identified himself only as Peter for fear of reprisals.

“The most shocking part of this — aside from the horrific child-abuse material that we were sometimes sent — was just the fact that it was so easy to catch these people. They have zero risk perception.”

Canadians caught in sweetie sting Terre des Hommes created this computer-generated image of a fake 10-year-old Filipino girl called Sweetie. The Dutch children’s rights organization is warning of an epidemic of children being paid to perform sexual acts via webcams and urging police around the world to crack down on the sinister practice.
HO/Terre des Hommes/AP

The adults seeking to watch actually believed they were communicating directly with the girl to arrange for the voyeuristic display.

One chat between the researcher posing as Sweetie and an online user started with the fake girl asking: ‘What you want see?’

The user responded: ‘U.’

Sweetie replied: ‘What u pay for?’

And the user added: ‘Naked.’

Those willing to watch “Sweetie” paid up to $100 via untraceable credit cards to watch her.

In total, 20,172 adults offered to pay between $1 and $100 using untraceable prepaid credit cards to have Sweetie perform a sex show via webcam — despite being told at least twice that she was only 10.

“It was so clear that these people were after 10-year-old children,” Peter said.
“Some men would say, ‘I’ll pay you $500 to see you and your six-year-old sister have sex.’ ”

Terre des Hommes has for years worked to combat child prostitution in Southeast Asia and staff members noticed in recent years that young prostitutes were disappearing from their usual haunts: cafes, restaurants and hotels frequented by sex tourists. They discovered that sex tourists no longer have to leave their homes to exploit children, thanks to the proliferation of high-speed Internet connections, Guyt said.

Canada’s Criminal Code prohibits accessing child pornography and child prostitution, so the law should be adequate for prosecution, the group said.

RCMP had no comment on any Canadians caught in sweetie sting or any possible charges.

A computer-generated image of Sweetie, a made up 10-year-old girl from the Philippines who was created by the human rights organization Terre des Hommes in order to catch child predators. The initiative was part of a campaign to expose what the group says is an epidemic of children being paid to perform sexual acts via webcams. The group says Sweetie was bombarded with online offers to pay for webcam sex shows by child predators from around the world, including more than 50 Canadians. (Peter Dejong/Associated Press)

On The Web:

Canadians caught in child porn sting with ‘virtual’ 10-year-old girl
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/11/04/canadians_caught_in_child_porn_sting_with_virtual_10yearold_girl.html

Virtual girl ‘Sweetie’ catches thousands of paedophiles
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10429608/Virtual-girl-Sweetie-catches-thousands-of-paedophiles.html