A prosecutor reveals how pedophile groups operate in online games and social networks.
A girl breaks into a house she doesn't know because seconds before someone who claimed to be her age invited her. A boy goes with a stranger who likes the same games, the same music, and perhaps, like him, is sad or angry with his parents. "All of that is the internet, a place of risk. And we adults have to tell kids that what they wouldn't do on the street, they shouldn't do in the virtual world either. We have to explain to them who they might encounter and what could happen to them."
The metaphor and the words are Tomás Vaccarezza's. He heads the 17th Specialized Cybercrime Prosecutor's Office in Buenos Aires and receives LA NACION in his office, where he doesn't spend much time. Investigations in the field, leading trials against pedophiles, or accompanying security forces on raids consume almost all of his work time.
Vaccarezza has 27 years of experience in the justice system and 15 years of experience investigating crimes committed by adults against the sexual integrity of children and adolescents . This interview has barely begun when he receives a call informing him of a raid and the arrest of a possible online child sexual predator, or "groomer." In the midst of this turmoil, he explains how these criminals operate and shares some encouraging news: while child sexual harassment cases are on the rise, he sees them slowly leveling off "thanks to digital education in schools and information in the media."
But he immediately warns: the risks to which children are exposed are mainly cyberbullying or grooming, which in CABA increased by almost 21% between 2022 and 2024, and the crimes of distribution, dissemination, and production of images of sexual exploitation of children, which are clearly on the rise, not only in CABA but throughout the country: "Argentina is a large consumer of this material compared to other countries, which is worrying because it is an indication of the large number of pedophiles in the country."
−In an age where children have access to a cell phone on average from the age of 9 , what is the main way pedophiles or groomers contact children?
−The risk is multidirectional. They start out in games like Roblox, on Play; on social media, like Instagram or TikTok; or on any type of platform where there's access to a chat. Online pedophiles don't fish with flies, they fish with dynamite. Today, they're on any type of app and can harass dozens at once.
−Do you usually operate with a specific pattern?
−They pose as a boy and gradually establish a friendship with the intention of later asking for intimate or sexual images. This can lead to a meeting and abuse. It also often happens that they are part of the boy's universe—a teacher, psychologist, or coach who begins to make contact in the virtual world under the guise of, for example, creating an online gaming group.
-What is the way they find to extort the boy to do what they ask?
−The most common way to tell him is that if he doesn't keep sending intimate images, he'll tell his parents or share them with his friends. Because what's more likely is that a friend of the boy has received a friend invitation from that person. And that friend, seeing that the person is a friend of his friend, accepts it. In all cases, it's important to understand that the boy is always the victim.
−What about the new platforms that are emerging? Recently, there was talk of OmeTV , a platform where kids can make random video calls with users from all over the world. Can companies be required to enforce stricter restrictions to prevent children or teenagers from accessing these platforms or to monitor what happens on them?
We have to constantly update ourselves on everything that's emerging, but the truth is that there's a problem here between the privacy companies offer their customers and the fact that kids use platforms that weren't created for them and lie about their age to use them. So, beyond the cooperation we ask of companies, parents have to implement all the parental control filters on the apps they can use. They even have to monitor their social networks and who they're in contact with. That's not violating their privacy; it's protecting them. Furthermore, it's key to talk to them and tell them bluntly what risks they run if they contact strangers and how these strangers operate.
−In most cases, is it the child who warns the parents or is it the parents who discover that the child is being bullied?
-It's usually older siblings who discover it, not a parent. And when a parent does, it's usually by chance because the child left their computer session open. And they're always surprised.
−Do children give any kind of signs when they are being harassed and bullied?
−When bullying continues for a sustained period or when some type of abuse is consummated, they are more affected. They appear withdrawn, nervous, very isolated, and absorbed in their cell phones. Parents often see these symptoms, but it's too late. That's why prevention and always reporting are important.
−What steps should an adult take in these cases?
−Always file a report, don't delete evidence, conversations, or images, and avoid contact with the groomer so they don't realize someone else has spotted them. This is because if they delete their profile from the social network through which they contacted the child, the platform won't be able to provide their information.
−What happens once the complaint is filed?
−All complaints are investigated. We only ask that families bring us the child's cell phone or the means by which the contacts were made, so we can make a copy of the material. Perhaps, depending on the case, the child may have to testify in the Gesell Chamber, but we try to have all the evidence to avoid that. And basically, we try to ensure that families, beyond making an arrest, know exactly what happened and how it happened. Additionally, through the Child and Adolescent Assistance Area (ANNAVI), psychological support and guidance are provided to families.
-How much do the platforms collaborate?
−They usually provide assistance and provide us with IP addresses, which we can use to determine the areas where they connected. Then, a number of measures are taken that involve analyzing open sources, such as their Facebook profile and the phone number they're linked to. We have programs that cross-reference data, and we can see where they're connecting from, what they do, who else they're connected to, and who their family members are. Sometimes, many of these groomers are abroad, and that's when one wishes international collaboration were better-oiled.
-What is the problem that arises in these cases?
"If we determine, for example, that the groomer lives in Mexico, the only thing we can do is send the investigation to that country. But we don't know what that prosecutor's office does. We assure the families that they will know how the events occurred, but not much more. It's something we need to work on."
−What happens next with the intimate images a child may have shared with the harasser? Do they stop circulating?
"No, unfortunately, it's most likely that the groomer has already circulated it among others, because they always operate online, exchanging material. What we do is notify an international organization that tracks these images on social media that the child or adolescent has already been protected and that the case has been brought before the courts."
-How many sentences are there on average per year?
On average, across different crimes, we reach about 80 per year. The sentence a groomer must serve is usually six months to four years in prison, depending on the nature of the harassment and the damage. When abuse is confirmed, the sentences are multiplied. There was the case of a man who was sentenced to 20 years. Then there was the case of a karate teacher, a father, who lived in Las Cañitas. He harassed and abused. We initiated the investigation at the prosecutor's office and later ended in the national court, which sentenced him to 40 years. As for crimes against sexual integrity, for which intimate images of children are distributed, disseminated, or produced, they can be sentenced to between four and eight years. When production involves abuse, there may be abuse, and the sentence is higher.
−What is the profile of those who commit these different crimes?
−The vast majority are men. The number of women is minimal. As for their characteristics, there is no specific profile: they are men between 20 and 80 years old; they can be fathers, professionals, unemployed, students, or single people living alone or with their parents.
-What is the fastest growing crime?
−Crimes involving the distribution, dissemination, or production of child sexual abuse material, which involves taking a photo or recording of a minor, are on the rise. In these cases, which are crimes against their sexual integrity, abuse may or may not be involved. We receive these reports through contact channels with the prosecutor's office, other agencies, and, for the most part, from a non-governmental organization in the United States, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Under federal law in that country, digital companies such as Google, Instagram, and others must send this NGO any child sexual abuse material they detect on their platforms. The organization then forwards these alerts to the countries where the material was created or exchanged.
−How many of those images were identified as originating or distributed in our country?
Last year, 120,000 reports were forwarded to the country by that NGO, which is worrying because it implies that there are approximately 100,000 or more pedophiles in Argentina. That's an average of 1,035 images per day. And while there aren't many images, each case is analyzed because the goal is to save children from the abuse they may be suffering. Of these, after a filter we apply because some images may be memes or decades old, about 2,200 correspond to the City of Buenos Aires, and each and every one is investigated. We forward about 13,200 to the provinces.
−Is there always abuse behind the dissemination of images?
Many images may be hashed , meaning they had already been detected by security forces around the world some time ago and had been assigned a unique digital identifier to differentiate them from images that may be unpublished. These unpublished images are immediately sent for investigation because it means that whoever started disseminating them may have also generated them, and there is an ongoing abuse. But the truth is that this country consumes more than it produces.
−Given that there are new ways of attacking children's safety online with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the increase in cyberbullying among children, do you notice a legal loophole that prevents you from investigating, preventing, and, in the case of adults, prosecuting?
−Digital harassment, the non-consensual distribution of images, and identity theft are now considered offenses, although they may be incorporated as criminal offenses, as has occurred in some parts of the world. For offenses involving offenses, minors under 18 are not subject to criminal liability. For offenses that carry penalties of more than two years in prison, those over 16 are already subject to criminal liability. That's why criminalizing bullying through digital media is complex because the harassers are minors, and it's a violation, regardless of any intervention we may have with ANNAVI or the Guardianship Advisory Board. Anything related to the production and distribution of images is abuse, grooming, or the distribution of images of child sexual exploitation. If a boy 16 or older distributes images of him having sex with a 14-year-old girl, he is punishable for that act because the penalty in those cases is more than three years. But if the boy is under 16, he is not punishable.
−And in those cases, what answers do you give to the parents?
−As in cases of cyberbullying or the dissemination of images without consent, another approach is suggested, one that doesn't involve the criminal justice system. The Guardianship Advisory Office intervenes in this case, and there's a law [ Law 223 ] in the Ministry of Education that requires schools to intervene in these cases through a protocol. Parents can address the problem through the school, or possibly through the Ministry of Education. The school's role in these cases is key.
−In other unclassified cases, is it difficult to investigate a crime against minors?
−In cases that are quite novel, such as those involving nude images generated using AI and using the face of a minor, we maintain that the violation of that minor's sexual integrity is the same, since the only one who knows it's not her, is her. And in that case, we classify it as image distribution, but we haven't had definitive resolutions, although we have resolved it this way. When it occurs between peers, minors who are not accountable, under 16 years of age, we always recommend that it be reported anyway because the existence of an adult behind the generation of those images must be ruled out.
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