Paedophiles rear ugly head in Kerala on social media

The Kerala police have been keeping track of the activities of suspected paedophiles in a bid to ensure they are nabbed before they trap vulnerable children.
Image used for representational purpose only
Image used for representational purpose only

KOCHI: They don’t act tech savvy. But they are the major predators online looking for vulnerable children browsing social media. A lot of paedophiles are surfacing in Kerala on social media posing as girls and women counsellors.

The Kerala police have been keeping track of the activities of suspected paedophiles in a bid to ensure they are nabbed before they trap vulnerable children. “Social media companies are cooperating with us whenever we raise a query about a suspicious social media account which is into paedophile activity. We are thoroughly monitoring the social media to identify the abusers,” said Kerala Police IT SP J Jayanath.
In a latest incident, a Kerala police team nabbed a Tamil Nadu native for posting nude pictures of children on the Facebook. He was arrested from Thiruthani in Thiruvallur district and he was identified as Sunil Kumar.

According to a police officer, the predators operate in a manner that the vulnerable children may not know they are being victimised. Generally, the abusers get into an online friendship with children and start exchanging their photographs. Over a period, their bond strengthens and exchange lewd photographs. The predators win the trust of the victim and transform their online relationship into offline. Thereafter, the predators use the pictures to blackmail the victims.

Officers are recommending the parents to use monitoring technology to keep track of the online activities of children. As per expert articles available on different websites, online behaviour and activities mainly on mobile phones can be tracked using tools like MyMobile Watchdog.

Warning signs for the parents to look out for

  • Child spending more time with mobile, laptop, tablet and computers in night
  • Child receiving strange phone calls and getting gifts which they claim to be given by a “friend.”
  • Child becomes more secretive about online activity and prefers to stay detached from family activities

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com