Manitoba RCMP are investigating after a seven-year-old girl was coerced into sending nude photos to a man over Snapchat — an example of what experts and police warn is a growing trend of children under 13 being sexually exploited through social media.
The images and videos being sent through the online messaging app were discovered after the girl’s mother went into the child’s room. The girl quickly put down a cellphone when her mother came in, according to a production order document obtained by CBC.
When the mother became suspicious and took the phone, she learned the girl had been chatting with an older man.
The mother found pictures of a penis within those chats and contacted RCMP. She gave them the phone for analysis, according to the document.
Police say they found explicit conversations over Snapchat between a man from the United Kingdom and the seven-year-old, as well as images and video shared between the two.
Who the fuck gives a 7 year old a cell phone?!?! Yeah the pedophile is a piece of shit, but so is the parent.
Ugh. A kid that age should not have access to Snapchat. Snaps parental controls are remarkably weak, and entirely insufficient for a kid that age.
Edit: that isn’t to minimize the grossness of the paedophile that was creeping after the kid.
not only that she had access, but someone had to make the account in the first place!
My child is now reaching the age where they can figure out things if they really want to, but as soon as I learn of any account creation shenanigans, I have to know what the app is and why, otherwise it’s uninstalled. No social media access until 16 is the right call, in my mind.
Kudos to the mom for noticing and contacting the cops but… why the hell would anyone give a kid unfettered access to the internet to begin with?
access to the internet
on Snapchat!!
They are our federal police. Good thing she she went to federal, since provincial or municipal police wouldn’t have resources for this.
The RCMP are our provincial cops. We don’t have separate cops like Ontario with the OPP.
They are still federal. Manitoba’s got dissolved in 1932. And Ontario is not the only one with provincial police, there is the Sûreté du Québec, and The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. Also Alberta will be getting their’s back soon as well, but will be Alberta’s Sheriffs Police Service(ASPS).
Yes, but the municipal/provincial policing arms of the RCMP are not firewalled from the federal policing arm. They can easily communicate with each other, and a case like this would be quickly escaleted to the federal section. Source: I know an RCMP member.
I really hope that they can quickly nail this offender, with the help of the UK police services.
Yup, exactly. It wouldn’t matter who you report it to, it’ll just get sent to the right people.
