FBI warns of 'group grooming' by online predators targeting children
SAN FRANCISCO - The FBI calls it "group grooming."
"It's when child predators work together to go after potential victims," said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office.
Tripp said agents have uncovered evidence that criminals are banding together to exploit children.
"It's a process. It takes place over time. It doesn't start with anything overtly sexual, but it certainly is on the road to that," Tripp said.
The FBI says predators have posed as children the same age as their unsuspecting targets, joining chats, games or online groups.
What gradually becomes deviant conversations online are then deemed normal by others in the group whom the children believe are their peers.
The children are often unaware that they are actually speaking with adults, and children may be more likely to trust individuals when they believe that other children in the group already know and trust the predator.
"If you have somebody that's pretending to be a child and doing it effectively, that normalizes what that person is saying, and it's all the more effective if it's not just one person but multiple people saying that," Tripp said.
A single predator can also pose as different children.
Federal prosecutors say Christopher Raymond Campbell of Mountain View posed online as a girl embracing "body positivity" and used multiple accounts at the same time, tricking girls as young as 9 into sending him photos so that they could get visibility or "shout-outs."
In court documents, federal prosecutors wrote, "When they sent him explicit photos of themselves, he would, in turn, send those photos to other victims he was grooming as proof that ‘others are doing it' and thus convince them that they should, too."
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"One of the key markers of keeping your kids safe is that how you're monitoring your kids' activities online," said Lesther Papa, assistant professor of psychology at San Jose State University.
Papa says parents are the first line of defense.
"One of the things that predators are good at is being able to tap into the vulnerability of kids wanting something, some sort of nurturing, some sort of guidance," Papa said.
The FBI encourages anyone who believes a child they know may be a victim of exploitation to contact their local law enforcement agency or send a tip to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov.
Bay City News contributed to this report. Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and facebook.com/henrykleefan