Viral Video Depicts Chilling Child Predator Experiment
A viral video by YouTube filmmaker Coby Persin shows how
easy it is for a paedophile to pick up an underage child on social media. In
the video, Persin poses as a 15-year-old boy on Facebook and then, with parents’
permission, lures three teenage girls – ages 12 to 14 – to meet him in person.
Persin told CNET en Español that his inspiration for the
video came from a story about a 27-year-old man who enticed a 12-year-old girl
to an in-person meeting via Instagram. Persin said he wanted to raise awareness
of how easy it is for predators to use social media to bait their victims. He
put out an ad on Craigslist seeking parents with teens active on social media.
The fake Facebook profile used pictures of a real teen who allowed Persin to
use his Instagram.
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| cnet.com |
Posing as ‘Jason Biazzo’, Persin told the girls that he had
just moved to their area and was trying to make new friends. Within 3 to 5 days
of simple conversations via text messaging, the girls agree to meet him in person
at three venues: at the park during the day, at their house at night, and in a
van at night. The parents of the credulous teens literally catch them in the
act.
The first girl, 13-year-old Mikayla, texts: ‘My parents just
left. I can be at the park in 10 minutes.’ Cameras capture Mikayla leaving her
house and walking to the park where Persin is waiting. The confused girl
is then confronted by her father: ‘Are you crazy? He could have been a rapist. He
could have been a paedophile.’ Persin calls attention to the obvious – he looks
nothing like his picture on Facebook.
 |
| metro.co.uk |
12-year-old Julianna tells ‘Jason’ that she will have to
wait for her dad to fall asleep before he can come over to chill because she isn’t
allowed to have boys in the house, then texts her address. Dad John tells
Persin that he doesn’t think she will open the door. But she does, only to see
her dad standing next to a man she has never seen before. ‘You could’ve been
raped and murdered,’ her dad cries. ‘I’m sorry,’ she sobs into his arms.
The oldest girl, 14-year-old Jenna, even has a phone
conversation with Persin without realising that he isn’t who he says he is. He tells
Jenna that his brother is going to pick her up, but it’s actually Persin and
her parents waiting in the car. Her mother and father are sceptical, but Jenna
jumps straight in the front seat, despite never having seen Persin before. She
screams as her parents jump out of hiding in masks and grab hold of her. ‘What
are you thinking? What would have happened if you came out and it wasn’t us
sitting back here?’ Her mother grabs her phone from her and reminds her of the
many times they’ve discussed stories of this happening to other people.
‘That should teach you a lesson forever, your whole life,’
says Persin.
This isn’t the end of the experiment. This week, Persin says
that he will release the second part of the project, but this time he will be pretending
to lure teenage boys. ‘They just see a cute girl and they’re like, oh, I wanna
meet. They don’t realise that it could be an old man.’
Aaron Waterhouse
Aaron is a recent English graduate from Durham University who is now working as a content writer intern. An enthusiastic traveller, he hopes to become a journalist and report from around the world. Follow him @AaronAtSMF.
Viral Video Depicts Chilling Child Predator Experiment
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
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