Canada: Facebook gives predator access to 11-year old (www.protect.org)

All references to PROTECT are to the organization as it existed in 2006. As of 2015, Andrew Vachss is no longer associated with that organization.

Canada: Facebook gives predator access to 11-year old

By www.protect.org
Originally published by www.protect.org, December 1, 2008

A Canadian mother who allowed her 11-year old son to use the “social networking” program Facebook may have given a predator access to her child. The Halifax, Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald reports that police have arrested a man with a history of child sexual crimes, after he used Facebook to attempt to lure the boy.

According to the mother, the suspect used personal information offered by the child on the website to devise a pretext for contacting him. Seeing that the boy was a fan of a Canadian celebrity, “…He was trying to plan a surprise party of the (celebrity) with all of his best fans and he would pay for my son’s flight to Toronto and his hotel room for the weekend.”

Sites like Facebook encourage children to share personal information about themselves and to “network” with friends and strangers. Experts say it is a virtual online catalog for child predators hunting for easy victims.