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Sex offenders in the virtual worlds were divided into 18 open inquiries such as: “I want xcam sexx ;”,”Which girl wants to watch me ?:) fr ” or “Which girl is xperverted? Send FR”. Six more comments were of a sexual nature and repeats and two were direct requests to the undercover avatar regarding continuing the conversation on skype (ibid) 5 . What attracted attention during the participantobservation was the fact that some users directly asked others to swap images using the popular smartphone messenger WhatsApp, for example: “let’sgox on skyipe or xwhattsapp and send xpictures or habbo sxx?”. For the offender continuing communication on the WhatsApp would have several advantages. First, to communicate with this programme, users have to swap mobile numbers, which would allow other forms of harassment and ways of approaching the victim, and second, via WhatsApp media files, and therefore also images that people have created of themselves, can be exchanged easily. Many international examples show how the blackmailer type operates. In the year 2011, a 19-year-old man from New York was arrested who groomed and sexually abused a 13-year-old boy via the games console Xbox (Fahey, 2011). The offender called his gamer tag (user’s nickname, profile and success in the game so far visible to other players), which can be seen by all players, “homosexual furry”. The offender here took advantage of the fact that in millions of living rooms and children’s rooms worldwide you find Xboxes and Playstations and these are used to play online by a great many people. The Xbox as well as Playstation both sold 70 million game consoles each in 2012 (Leschni, 2012). Both systems also offer the option of contacting fellow players and, by sending/accepting a friendship request, getting closer to each other. The systems also offer the opportunity to install to a Playstation Eye or the Xbox Kinect to allow live video broadcasts. Habbo Hotel is 5 A female avatar and nickname was used as a cover, indicating a girl aged 13. also versatile as an initiation platform. In September 2012, a 25-year-old former police officer in England was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The offender used Habbo Hotel to specifically talk to underage boys and get them to watch sexual acts on their webcam via Skype or MSN (Phagura, 2012). There are countless versions of this type of offender. Some pretend to be employees of a youth magazine or a model agency to ask underage victims for sample photos. The indirect offender type While the blackmailer type acts in a direct and open way, the second main offender type tends to be covert and conspiratorial. This type, also described as “indirect” and “buddy” type, initially registers in the virtual world using false data. Because some of the virtual worlds do not compare registering IP (internet protocol) addresses, they are able to set up and operate several user accounts at the same time. One offender can thus be represented in different guises (boy/girl/age/background) in one virtual world. This is also called “multiboxing”. Sometimes offenders can follow the public chat to find ways of initiating a conversation with a potential victim of their choice. The victim can then use his different avatars depending on how he wishes to appear to his victim. Usually, the offender tries to find out the age of the victim to adjust his own age accordingly. Usually the made-up age will be the same or just slightly older. During the initiating phase the offender then tries to find an emotional point of entry to the victim. This is particularly promising during puberty, if the offender shows empathy for and interest in the victim. During this phase the offender will inconspicuously try to find out about what the victim looks like and about any first sexual experiences. Should a transfer to another medium take place to continue communication there, the offender will make sure during the initiation phase that his real age or his real gender (if he changed his gender) is not revealed. On Skype, for example, he would pretend that What attracted attention during the participantobservation was the fact that some users directly asked others to swap images using the popular smartphone messenger WhatsApp. Special Edition 2013 17
Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger, M.A. Although police crime statistics (PCS) in Germany found a rise in reports of such crimes from 934 in 2011 by almost 50 percent to 1,406 in 2012 (BMI, 2013). his video camera is not working. As soon as the offender assumes that he has gained the trust of the victim, he will initiate the socalled secrecy phase. During this phase he will reveal a secret that only the two of them share, such as his true age or gender. If this does not lead the victim break off contact, the connection with the victim becomes stronger and a transition to a physical meeting, for example, is now possible. Specific example of such activities are known internationally from a great number of virtual worlds. In 2010 a 28-year-old man approached an eleven-year-old girl under the pretence of being a 12-year-old in the Dutch Habbo Hotel. He started to interact with her, connected with her through a friendship request and they fitted out a hotel room together. The two then spent a lot of time in their hotel room and led a kind of virtual family life. The offender took advantage of the fact that he was much more financially able to purchase virtual furniture. After some time, the offender initiated the so-called secrecy phase. During this phase he revealed his true age and arranged to meet the child in a hotel room. Here they engaged in sexual activities. The offender was convicted because the mother found text messages with a sexual content on the child’s mobile phone (Middelburg, 2010). Another example from the USA became the subject of intense discussion in 2011. In the MMORPG Runescape, a 54-year-old man played with a thirteen-year-old girl. It went as far as the two of them celebrating a virtual wedding in the game. Later victim and offender met in real life and engaged in sexual acts. The offender was convicted because he gave the victim a mobile phone to be able to communicate better. The mother (who had banned her daughter from owning a mobile phone) found the mobile and the saved messages containing sexual references (Parrish, 2011). It has come to note that women are now also amongst the offenders. As early as 2009 a 42-year-old school teacher from England was arrested after grooming a 14-year-old boy in World of Warcraft (DailyMail, 2009). In another case in 2011 a 36-year-old American woman was arrested after sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. The offender initiated the sexual abuse through the chat feature (Xbox-Live) of the game console Xbox (Kornhaber, 2011). Overall, it is safe to say that both offender types take advantage of the special features of the virtual worlds, such as the option of offering virtual goods as payment, approaching other players through playful interaction, the games’ graphics and the relatively unmonitored way of communicating. 6. The scope of the phenomenon No specific scientific review based on recognised empirical methods of the scope of the sexual discrimination of minors in the virtual world, children’s chat rooms and game environments has yet taken place. No reliable conclusions can yet be drawn about the scope of such activities. This is especially true since cases of cyber grooming (similar to other crimes of abuse) are mostly so-called control-related offences, i.e. a crime that is rarely reported by the victim and is mostly brought to light following pro-active investigations by the police. If law enforcement agencies do not attempt to find and convict online offenders themselves, the number of reports and therefore convictions will remain low. Although police crime statistics (PCS) in Germany found a rise in reports of such crimes from 934 in 2011 by almost 50 percent to 1,406 in 2012 (BMI, 2013) 6 , 6 In the German PCS the relevant entry for crimes in accordance with §176 section 4 no 3 and 4 StGB can be found under the crime code 131.400. Note that codes 131.200 and 131.300 can contain cyber grooming crimes such as sexual acts in front of a camera (BMI, 2013). Since these codes do not differentiate between classic cyber grooming offences, such as those committed in front of a camera, and offences where offender and victim are in the same room, they are 18 Special Edition 2013
Page 1: Fachhochschule Polizei Brandenburg
Page 4 and 5: Editorial Editorial Ladies and Gent
Page 6 and 7: Sex offenders in the virtual worlds
Page 24 and 25: Cybergrooming in the context of cri
Page 36 and 37: Solange Jacobsen and Manuel Mulder
Page 50 and 51: Protection of children and young pe
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Protection of children and young pe
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Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Ulrike Lucke
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criteria, and responsibilities), an
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