Cases in which adult predators recruit children via the Internet have shocked and disturbed the public, especially after police actions in which previously arrested persons and police officers are accused of exploiting and having sexual relations with children. Who are those people behind the screen? How to recognize their traps? What are the consequences for children and what is the responsibility of society and institutions? These and other questions were answered by Vahidin Džaltur, a security expert, and Adnan Kadribašić, a lawyer.
Security expert Vahidin Džaltur told N1 that he is currently working on a case in which the predator also sent messages with a 13-year-old girl. In Novi Dan, he points out that every such case arouses terrible feelings for him as well, but that as a professional he must keep a “cool head” and put his emotions aside in order to complete the task and carry out the order. The goal is for the finding to be objective and supported by evidence so that it can be used in court.
Đaltur: We have 10-20 times more such things that do not go public or are not reported
Lawyer Adnan Kadribašić said that it is very difficult for him to accept that there is no awareness, primarily among men, that this is a criminal act, but also that it is absolutely socially unacceptable.
“When we see these messages and in general all the information we have received recently about the abuse of children for sexual needs, sexual exploitation, it indicates that there are indeed citizens living among us who are not aware of the damage they leave on children, on the entire society. Indeed, the entire society is traumatized when we find out about such situations. And on the other hand, they are obviously very aware. The word predator may be too harsh, but it is obvious that they are abusing the child’s sense of vulnerability, the vulnerable position of the child and trying to somehow maintain that role through a sense of shame, where in fact they are lurking, that is, they have a stronger role and are trying to realize their wishes”, said Kadribašić in Novi dan.
Džaltur points out that the word “predator” is too mild for him, considering his past experiences and expertise he has performed.
“We see when it appears in the public. Under the radar, that is, things that are not reported or are reported but do not go public, we have 10-20 times more such things. So, I say, the things that I have read, that I have done, are much worse. You should be happy that you never see that, that is, the exchange of photos or videos,” pointed out Džaltur.
Tips for children: Report any suspicious calls to your parents immediately, take photos of the messages
He said that it is important to continuously educate children. He referred to the last case in which a man from Zenica contacted a girl (13) on Viber with inappropriate messages, and her father continued the communication after she told him about the messages.
“In this particular case, what we know from the media is that the father took the phone, that the child may have been exposed to such things, such photos. In many other cases, the child is not exposed to such things. This leaves a great trauma for the rest of his life. Especially today, the Internet, anything that comes through the Internet, someone will take a screenshot – it is recorded somewhere. In 10, 15, 20 years, that girl may find herself in a situation where someone maliciously abuses such photos again, threatens again, again Constant education and work with the children is important, and vice versa, for the reason that the child can not report such things to the police, he must be accompanied by a parent or guardian they use a ban on taking screenshots, to take pictures of such messages. Because when you make a report, it’s a totally different picture when someone sees what’s going on, that is, when you say someone is harassing me, and you don’t have any proof,” said Džaltur.
Education was previously provided in older grades, but now they are also provided in the 5th and 6th grades.
Thanks to the new criminal offense of “Enticing children for the satisfaction of sexual needs”, online predators can be punished
Attorney Kadribašić spoke about the legal aspects and whether, from the legal side, the girl’s father acted correctly when he took the cell phone and continued communicating with the predator, and whether he can be held legally responsible.
“We will see what the judicial epilogue of this proceeding will be, but what is at stake and what is perhaps a big change that really happened this year with the changes to the Criminal Code, we have defined the criminal offense of Enticing children for the satisfaction of sexual needs. If that criminal offense had not been introduced, the Prosecution would very likely have had to act differently in this case,” said the lawyer.
The threatened punishment for KD luring is up to three years in prison, and if all three crimes are proven, then up to eight years in prison. Both of our guests are of the opinion that it is a good thing that the father contacted the competent authorities immediately, and that the prosecution’s response was quick. However, they emphasize that some things can be done better so that the procedure is not jeopardized. This is why, they emphasize, education is important.
Roblox is particularly dangerous: Everything starts from simple communication, and when they build trust…
Children have become, they point out, an easy target, and there are more and more cases in which boys are also victims. Džaltur gave the example of the game Roblox, which he said is a “horrible platform” through which predators stalk children, separate them into rooms for correspondence and play the game together with them.
“A predator easily creates fake profiles. From previous victims, he has some pictures that are half-naked, naked, and he has it ready. He either exchanged it or bought it. There is usually a lot prepared, unlike a child. And he is very educated. First, it takes some time to build some trust. It takes about four to six months – correspondence, how are you, what do you have, what are you doing. They are very patient. Because they aim to achieve what they want. In the end, that person corresponds to someone who is 40 or 50 years old with a boy of 15, 17 years old. He sends him a picture of a girl, of course. His profile picture is of a girl. Because he has found a picture of a past victim. He also sends a photo of himself. This is about extorting and blackmailing him x bona children pay 50KM-100KM and it goes into a vicious circle. Girls are asked for new photos, that is, in different poses, in different clothes. The requests are really creepy,” said Džaltur.
Attorney Kadribašić emphasized that the statute of limitations for crimes against minors starts to run only when the victims become of age, and that they, even as adults, can self-report the crimes that happened to them while they were minors, in case they did not have a trusted person at the time when the crime was committed against them.
Džaltur stated that such cases leave permanent trauma to the victims because it follows them throughout their lives, and he pointed out that it is very important that psychologists continuously work with the victims.
Appeal to parents: These are the people you meet every day and you would swear they would never do this
He appealed to parents to pay attention to their children, monitor their networks, be friends with the children and ask about all suspicious contacts. Both guests warn that predators are people who are in our environment.
“We had a case at a lecture in Banja Luka at a school. Let’s not name the elementary school. By chance, there was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska, who also works on that report. We talked, I explained the modus operandi and how they work, and the boy raised his hand and said ‘we have a neighbor, an old uncle, who bought a new PlayStation, he provides us with games, then after school we fly there for a while and play’. Here, I gave you an example of how it can be done And these are the people you meet every day, they are not people who live in a bunker, but you see them every day, you move among them and you would swear that they would never do that,” warned the expert.
(TYPE/Source: N1/Author: Minela Jašar-Opardi/Photo: ILustration/N1)
