“Paedophile hunters”

[Yellowdaffodilss]

I remember quite a few years ago now, these paedophile hunter’s started appearing on social media. Videos of them meeting people who had been talking to what they believed were underage children. I remember thinking , oh wow they’re out there protecting our children. Maybe a naive view , I don’t know.

But now , more and more , I see it becoming a regular thing and I am seeing time and time again that the so called predators they catch ( not all the time, there are times that they are grown adults knowing what they’re doing ) are very clearly people with additional needs / autism. I find it disturbing to watch - I have seen young adults panicking and not really knowing what they’re doing or the implications . It’s clear that the messages in the videos I have seen are between the “ culprit” and an ‘underage child’ discussing meeting up , when yes they have been clear they are underage but it is also clear that it has not been sexual talk and these people are not understanding that what they are doing is wrong.

I remember years ago my sister and her friend talking to a lad of around 19. My sister and her friend were chatting and asking if the lad liked the friend and he was inviting them around to his house for a sleepover and to watch movies. ( my sister told my mom as she was worried ) I went through all the messages and could see it was not sexual . This lad thought they were friends . I looked at his profile and he was clearly autistic and his emotional and mental age was probably the same as my sister and her friend. I spoke to his mother who was so thankful that I messaged and confirmed he was quite severely autistic.

My son is autistic and always been drawn to girls as friends rather than boys . He also always gets on with those younger because he is on their level more. He wouldn’t even know how to talk sexually - he’s got a very limited understanding. I can’t stop him having a phone , he’s now 18 . Luckily I’m very aware and have spoken to him about this and keep tabs on him but it’s very hard. This kind of thing really worries me.

It makes me think whether these groups are doing more harm than good. They’re outing people publicly , and for those who are vulnerable with no understanding then it could do so much harm. I get that parents should be monitoring phone use but quite frankly not all parents do.

I do also wonder - can charges be made if there is no ‘real’ victim - it’s an adult they’re talking to … I guess it could get the culprits investigated more and maybe find out more things but other than that is it not just vigilante behaviour? And also , is their real good intention there from all of them or is it a case of getting social media famous ? Could it even be that they target those who they can see are more vulnerable as it will be an easy ‘catch’ ?

Yes but as I said everybody including paedophile, s are entitled to a fair trial, if thousands of people have seen it being streamed the evidence might not be used thus jeopardising the the chance of a conviction.

I just think they must all share the same braincells, what is worsos they probably have gullible partners who think they are amazing

The more concious and 'considerate' hunting groups often don't allow family members in the video and/or notify the viewer that it is not the family's fault or involvement. This is variable, though.
There are less 'aggressive' and more quiet/gentle hunters that are very respectful of the background when it is in a home setting.

That is quite true, actually.

Being autistic doesn’t give you free rein to be a paedophile. YABVU.

Well the number of people (well men, let's be honest) arrested for images or communications offences has been soaring for several years now, so it clearly isn't achieving that. Everyone who commits these offences know their lives will be ruined if they get caught, publicity or not. It doesn't stop them.

Just to add, I'm very wary of oversharing, but I have some knowledge of this professionally, including seeing the impact on the innocent families of offenders.

I work in adults social care with people with LD or Autism. We have several young men open to our team caught by these paedophile hunters. None have been convicted so far, all it does is cause untold stress as generally these men are living in supported living homes with other vulnerable individuals who are then put at risk as their home is aired on social media for all to see and target. In most cases we have to rehouse the individual caught by the paedophile hunters and increase the support for those left in the home in case of potential attacks from members of the public. It's disgusting what they do, if they cared that much they would just share the intel with the police not all over social media.

I know him. He cannot lie . He runs absolutely everything by me. Easy to say and hard to believe but believe me I know .

I appreciate these groups catching pedos, but I don’t think outing them on social media is good. Risks the family of the offender (who normally don’t know anything about it) being identified and harassed. Just hand the evidence over to the police.

A hunting group near me actually all got arrested themselves for beating up the predators. Some people might say well done but it’s landed them in prison themselves.

I am autistic, and while I know there’s different levels, I know I would never message underage lads. Autism is not an excuse for doing this- I know of a lad caught in a sting who had Down’s syndrome and autism. His autism sounds like it was on a similar level to your lad. But it didn’t give him an excuse for doing what he did.

I also unfortunately personally know a guy with high functioning autism (Asperger’s) who tried to use his autism as an excuse in court. Did not work.

You say he can’t keep secrets. I’m similar, maybe due to my autism- I used to tell my mum everything. Still do. But at that age I was sexting folk online (folk my age!) and needless to say I kept it quiet from my mum. Just because he’s told you everything so far doesn’t mean he always will.

If he’s talking to young girls and you have proof (and he’s not listening to you) and won’t stop - you need to go to the police. Or you could get in trouble/investigated too when doubtless the girls parents find out and tell the police themselves. Or potentially as you say, he might find himself caught in a sting and his name outed.

I remember this one too.

A learning disability is no excuse. I’ve seen people with Down’s syndrome and autism get criminal records for doing stuff like this- as they should do if it’s chat of a sexual nature.

The livestreaming on facebook indicates they are very much in it for personal glory. I remember a livestreamed confrontation going viral all over my city, and I wonder that they don't worry about tipping off any associates. If he had any friends who had a shared interest in abusing children, they then had prior warning to destroy evidence of their involvement with him.

When the police arrest suspected child molesters, they do it at dawn and take all the suspect's digital devices before the internet histories can be wiped, don't they?

Was thevperson with Down syndrome autism ,sending sexuallly explicit messages, ?or trying to make friends ?
What level was his understanding?
Clearly whatever he needs more supervision

they don’t just ‘hand it all in to police’ because they have to be caught in the act so to speak for an arrest to happen …. The meet up

otherwise it’s a lesser charge of communicating with a child…. The police turn up and the predator has at that point carried it through to the point of meeting

One round here was exposed as a paedophile himself. These groups are vile scumbags who have no concern for others and destroy lives. They are in it for the glory and the social media likes from their knuckle dragging followers. I have bitter bitter experience that tells me this.

Sending sexually explicit messages, along with friendly ones, then when caught he claimed he just wanted to be her friend. He knew damn well what he was doing. Later admitted he knew he wasn’t supposed to talk to girls under 18 online.

Than quite rightly he should be convicted.

I’ve always hated this but if you dare to point out that they are hindering police investigations or behaving inappropriately then you get labelled a pedo sympathiser by the masses of thickos who applaud them. There’s so many problems with it. Attacking those with clear learning disabilities is one of them. The implications of ‘outing’ these people on social media when they have families who are completely innocent but still have to go to work or school the next day. Not to mention sometimes they just get it completely wrong.

It’s very clear to me that a lot of these so called hunters do it for the likes and praise off idiots online. Some even have merchandise like t-shirts - what’s that got to do with protecting kids? It’s all self serving bullshit.

there’s certainly no reason to post it all over social media. Just hand the footage into the police of them meeting the hunters along with the chat logs

If someone has got the capacity to send
sexual messages to someone who’s been clear about their age, no disability can be used as a mitigating factor.

So he didn't understand why it's wrong? Why did he not make the mistake of talking to another adult, for example, and invite them for a sleepover?

Not greatly keen on their methods but neurodiversity or in particular autism really isn’t any kind of useful excuse. Being ignorant or professing you are isn’t a defence. Talking to younger teens under the age of consent can be considered grooming in certain circumstances

Just to say OP, while they could very much be convicted most pedophiles caught by these groups don’t go to prison especially if it’s a first offence. I knew someone who was caught twice and only got community service/ a supervision order and a couple of years on the SO register.

As others have said talking to teens underage can also be classed as grooming even if it’s not sexual. You really need to tell your son this. Even if it’s not flirty or sexual, it’s still wrong. Doesn’t matter if he gels more with them- he’s an adult man.

might also be worth him knowing that even if girls are over the age of consent where you are, sending nudes still constitutes as making CSAM unless they’re over 18.

I work in this area and I see many victims and perpetrators are in the main neurodivergent. It’s really hard to get them to understand appropriate behaviour and boundaries. Parents need to have the conversations early on so that they understand that the rules are there to protect them. But it’s really concerning how common this is.

I'm not disagreeing with you I just wanted to clarify what kind of messages he was sending
My own son is severly autistic and has severe learning disabilities, he is 15 but cognitively around 2/3
I'm guessing the person you have mentioned has a lot more capacity than my son and is a lot more cognitively able to understand why its wrong