Post by Focus on Aug 9, 2013 16:57:13 GMT
Children as young as 11 have been left 'suicidal' because pedophiles have blackmailed them for cash and sexual pictures on a notorious website.
A UK cyber-charity says they are getting 15 'desperate' calls a week from youngsters who have done a webcam strip show after being targeted by predators on Chatroulette.com.
Blackmailers then ask them for cash or more naked pictures after threatening to post the lewd images or videos on their school's Facebook site or Twitter feed, experts have said.
System : Chatroulette attracts 1.3 m people every day who meet at random via webcam, but it has become renowned for sexual activity and a charity says children are being exploited on it
Scott Freeman, who founded Cybersmile after his daughter was trolled, said: 'We have seen it grow from one call in the first week and since then it has become 15 calls a week in the past fortnight.
'These children are desperate for help and often believe death is the only way out. This is a huge issue as so many are suicidal.
'The blackmailers who ask for money often use foreign bank accounts but the ones who ask for sexual material seem to be British.
'The people give them a time limit and say, "If you don't do this within an hour or two hours we will put the pictures online".
'Because it is a space for teenagers, it attracts predators and pedophiles. It is like an online school playground. It is as dangerous as it gets.
'We want to contact all schools to warn them this is happening so they can tell their pupils'.
Chatroulette was set up by Russian teenager Andrey Ternovskiy, in 2009, and now has more than 1.3 m visitors per day.
Chatroulette is in the top 500 most popular websites, and even celebrities have claimed to use the site, including Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber and Olly Murs.
Blackmail : Children as young as 11 have been contacting a charity saying they have been forced into stripping online (file picture)
It allows users to chat to total strangers via a webcam but has attracted criticism for attracting voyeurs.
In order to find a new person to talk to, users simply press the 'next' button, known as 'nexting', and you can remain anonymous.
But predators are using chats to work out who the child is and then blackmail them.
One teenager who contacted Cybersmile was duped over a Rubik's Cube, when man asked if she could solve it in 15 seconds.
When she failed he wrote: 'Flash me', and when she refused, said 'Try showing cleavage instead', to which she obliged.
He then wrote: 'Well, can I put screenshots and a video of you showing me cleavage online ... show me a little more and I'll delete them. Deal?'
Chatroulette has been asked to comment but has failed to respond.
It has said it has systems in place to detect when people are flashing on screen and stops the chat, but it only detected this in 60 per cent of cases.
Please be vigilant of the sites that your children are visiting folks, there will be many more of the vile sites up and running, the scum that host these sites in my opinion need fcking shooting!! - Fx
