Authorities turn their attention to the "cam girls" themselves!
They are the ones taking their own pictures.
'CAMGIRLS' ON THE INTERNET
Like my photos? Send me a gift
Oblivious to the risks, British teenage girls are posting intimate pictures of themselves
online in exchange for gifts from viewers
LONDON - British girls as young as 14 are inviting strangers to send them gifts through
their personalised websites, prompting fears that they could fall prey to paedophiles.
The teens - known as 'camgirls' - sometimes offer intimate pictures of themselves in
return for the presents which range from lingerie to CDs, The Observer reported yesterday.
The craze caught on after word spread among schoolfriends that men in their 30s and 40s,
often overseas, were willing to send expensive gifts to their favourite 'camgirls'.
Campaigners for child safety are alarmed and the police are reportedly investigating
several such teen websites.
It was likely that paedophiles were already targeting some of these schoolgirls' sites,
said Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime
Unit.
Several schoolgirls told The Observer that they have received hundreds of pounds worth of
lingerie and CDs, and even commission for advertising porn sites.
They also link their websites to 'wish lists' on shopping sites such as Amazon.com and the
Playboy Store.
Fourteen-year-old Kerry, one of a number of British camgirls who discussed their
experiences via e-mail interviews with The Observer, said she set up her website 10 months
ago, and all she had to do was pose in front of the webcam - a camera that takes still or
moving images that can be viewed on a computer screen and transmitted over the Internet.
Her site has brought her so much attention and gifts that Kerry now plans to make a
full-time living from it by setting up a 'members' area'.
'I need some money and would really like to do this for a living. I'm always offered money
to go on cam, so I might as well take advantage,' she said.
Kate, another camgirl who is an A-level student in Surrey, said: 'The guys are looking for
a fantasy girl, I play up to it. They get their fantasy, I get profit.'
The Observer reported that a majority of British camgirls it contacted said their parents
were unaware of their online activities, and few seemed to be aware of the risks they put
themselves in.
Although the girls do not divulge their addresses - and Amazon wish lists state only the
area which the gift is being sent to - databases of website owners and their addresses are
in the public domain.
The camgirl phenomenon has caught the attention of law-enforcement agencies, following
several child murders and rapes in the United States which have been linked to online
relationships.
Detective Chief Supt Hynds said these camgirls were placing themselves at very serious
risk.
'Paedophiles are very good at grooming children in chatrooms,' he said.
Some of these salacious sites may also be fronts for organised crime, he added. But The
Observer said it has found no such evidence.
(Source: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,1870,130607,00.html?)
Every parent's worst nightmare
A growing number of British teenagers are posting pictures of themselves on the web in
return for gifts from strangers. David Rowan reports on the 'camgirls'.
Sunday July 7, 2002
Kerry was sent £70 worth of underwear last week, bought at Playboy's online store by a
man she had never met. The same day, she received a £45 cheque at her Lancashire home to
pose at her webcam 'and do absolutely nothing'.
In the 10 months since her personal website went live, its sultry photo galleries and
provocative 'livecam' shots have brought Kerry so much attention - and gifts ranging from
lingerie to CDs - that she now plans to build a premium 'members' area' that she hopes
will earn her a full-time living.
First, though, she has her GCSEs to worry about - for Kerry, one of Britain's growing
number of internet 'camgirls', is a schoolgirl aged just 14. As technology becomes ever
cheaper and internet companies vie to offer free web space, thousands of children are
chronicling their lives on intimate personal websites.
But some young girls are taking these most public of diaries a stage further, and posing
in their bedrooms for prurient webcam photographs that they use to persuade strangers to
buy them gifts. Although many children simply point visitors to their 'wish lists' on
shopping sites such as Amazon, The Observer has discovered that a number are actively
soliciting gifts with the promise of more revealing photographs in return.
It is a disturbing trend that has become established among Britain's teenagers only in
recent months. Senior police officers expressed dismay after an Observer investigation
uncovered some of the wish list 'trades'.
Most worryingly, the majority of young British camgirls we contacted said their parents
were unaware of their online activities, and few seemed to understand the risks inherent
in these dubious transactions.
Although the girls do not give their addresses - and Amazon wish lists state only the area
the gift is being sent to - databases of website owners and their addresses are in the
public domain.
Len Hynds, head of Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, said the force was unaware that
such sites were now operating in the UK until The Observer detailed six which appear to be
run by 14- to-18-year-old girls from counties including Durham, Essex and Dorset. 'It's a
very worrying trend, and clearly something we should be getting a more accurate picture
of,' Detective Chief Superintendent Hynds said. 'Paedophiles are very good at grooming
children in chatrooms, and I'd be very surprised if paedophiles weren't aware of these
sites.' By providing photographs and encouraging strangers to provide gifts, the girls
were placing themselves at severe risk, he said.
In the United States, where child murders and rapes have been linked to relationships
struck online, the camgirl phenomenon has prompted renewed concern among law-enforcement
agencies. Last week, a month after a 13-year-old Connecticut girl was strangled by a man
she allegedly met online, the popular Felicite.com gift registry - based nearby - shut
down 100 wish lists that it found were linked to teenage camgirls' websites.
Some of those sites, The Observer has discovered, belong to schoolgirls in Britain,
including one - apparently owned by an A-level student from Surrey - that promises
'special pictures' in return for gifts. Hynds fears that some salacious sites may be
fronts for organised crime, although our research offered no reason to make such a link
with the Surrey schoolgirl's site, which carries adverts for hardcore adult sites.
Fourteen-year-old Kerry, one of a number of British camgirls who agreed to discuss their
experiences via email interviews, sees her site as a 'bit of fun' that happens to attract
gifts in the mail. 'It's shocking what people buy you for nothing, it really is,' she
reflects. Her website includes 56 photographs of her striking model poses in various
skimpy tops, revealing nothing more than a pierced navel or a flirtatious kiss.
But what sets Kerry's site apart from the typical schoolgirl's are the links she trails
from her front page to adult sites that pay her for referring new subscribers. And not
only does she trail other sites but last week, she says, she received a cheque for $80
from Cam Girls Gone Wild, where paying visitors can see her 'bikini photographs'.
Through her Amazon.com wish list, men she has never met send Kerry pop CDs and books, most
recently Jon Benet: Inside the Murder Investigation, about the dead six-year-old American
beauty queen. The list includes CDs, a television and a Hello Kitty lamp that 'would look
so cute in my new pink room'. 'I can't really tell you much about the people who buy me
things, because I don't know who any of them are,' Kerry says. 'I guess they're just
people who enjoy the livecam, writing or whatever.'
She now hopes to capitalise on the attention her site has brought her. 'I actually plan on
making a members' section with my livecam on there,' she says. 'I need some money and
would really like to do this for a living. I'm always offered money to go on cam [she
declines], so I might as well take advantage.' Kerry sees her site as her space, beyond
parental interference.
'I've had lectures from my parents about what's written, but I've just simply told them
not to read it if they don't like it.'
Other teenage camgirls contacted by The Observer chose not to let their parents even see
their sites. Not surprisingly, none was prepared to put us in touch with her parents. 'I
refuse to provide them with the [website] link, as it serves its purpose as a place for me
to share my thoughts and feelings,' explains Alexa, a 15-year-old from Northamptonshire.
'Knowing they were reading them would only make me hold back. My parents don't often ask
too many questions about my site.' But she pays the bills by linking prominently to adult
sites. 'It does bother me that some sites I have to link to in order to fund my site are
so upfront about making money from young girls, but I have no other way of paying for my
domain.'
And her Amazon wish list? 'The main people who'd buy things from there would in my
experience be middle-aged men with too much time on their hands. I'm not going to lie and
say I wouldn't like people to buy me something - doesn't everyone want something for
nothing?'
But what about the risks she is running by exposing her personal details through her site?
'The whole stalker thing does worry me,' she admits, 'especially one guy who took pleasure
in relaying to me my home address, and saying the last time he was here it had snowed. But
the one or two perverts or weirdos are by far outnumbered by the genuine, kind, caring
visitors.'
Still, in a recent diary entry Alexa announced that she was taking down her webcam for
being 'more trouble than it's worth'. Instantly her message-board sprang to its defence.
'If you did,' wrote one regular, 'I would not be able to get a glimpse of pure beauty
every day.'
Kate, the A-level student in Surrey, offers 'personal rewards' in exchange for gifts. 'I
do offer to send people "special pictures" if they buy me something,' she
admits. 'They don't show anything more than you'd see me in at the beach, but I suppose
they like the idea that they have their own personal pictures. I also chat to quite a lot
of men online who have seen my pictures - I usually do steer them in the direction of my
wish list, but only because within the first two minutes they always ask to see me naked.
I'm 18 but I've told men that I'm as young as 15, and they still buy me stockings and
garter belts and ask to see me in them. The guys are looking for a fantasy girl, I play up
to it. They get their fantasy, I get profit.'
'Profit' for Kate has included £100 commission from porn sites she advertises, as well as
a lace G-string and garter belt from her wish lists. 'I am going to see if it's possible
to actually make a living from it,' she says. 'I've tried having just a normal teen site
before, but the only way to make any profit is to cater to the people who are looking for
porn. Showing more skin on your webcam gets more people to visit.'
She learnt this after adding her site to various 'portals', which allow visitors to vote
for their favourite camgirls. 'When you go to the sites and there are so many other girls
putting up naked shots, you become a bit immune to it. So then I started putting up more
and more provocative shots. The more provocative, the more men would contact me, and one
day somebody bought me something from my wish list.'
Kate has not told her family about her site. 'I don't count it as "me",' she
explains. 'I'm a normal girl offline, nobody would ever guess that I do this. My boyfriend
does know - I always run my pictures past him. He knows that I'm just trying to earn
money. Of course I've thought about stalkers, but ultimately I'm in charge of what people
know about me. I don't show full shots of my face, and I don't give out too many details
about myself, like what school I go to.'
Last week, however, Kate's lingerie wish list was one of those shut down by Felicite.com.
'It's DIY pornography, basically,' explains Hans Xu, in charge of the company's marketing.
'For £50 they can set up their own porno site and publish to an instant global market.
It's frightening.'
In May, Xu's point was proved when police in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut, discovered the
body of 13-year-old Christina Long, who police allege was killed by a 25-year-old man she
met online.
'What kind of parents let their daughters get involved with this?' Xu says. 'It starts out
very innocently: the girl sets up a site, the guy emails in saying you're beautiful, and
then he starts sending them gifts. It's really sick to see guys taking advantage of
underaged girls like this.'
Xu passed to The Observer an email from a purportedly 16-year-old Canadian girl to a man
who had bought her a gift. 'Here is one pic because that's all $10 and under buys,' she
said. 'If you sign up for [an X-rated site], I'll be sure to send you more!'
'It was a real eye-opener for us, since it was the first hard evidence we saw that girls
were exchanging pictures for gifts,' Xu says.
When contacted by The Observer, Amazon.co.uk also expressed concern that some of its wish
lists were being used 'in an inappropriate manner'. 'We do not condone it,' company
spokeswoman Christina Smedley said. 'If we are made aware of specific instances of
inappropriate use we will take down those wish lists.'
'Inviting strangers to buy you gifts, and posting pictures of yourself, is very risky
behaviour,' agrees John Carr, internet adviser at the children's charity NCH.
'Paedophiles and child molesters are always interested in finding new people they can make
contact with, and that can start with a simple email. A good parent ought to make sure
they know what their children get up to online.'
(Source: http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,750840,00.html)
Police probe paedophile links to teen 'camgirl' sites
Sunday July 7, 2002
Police are investigating a series of personalised teen websites amid fears that
paedophiles could target children who put photographs of themselves on the internet in
return for gifts.
An Observer investigation can reveal that British girls as young as 14 are inviting
strangers to send them presents through their websites, sometimes offering intimate
pictures in return.
The teen craze caught on after word spread among schoolfriends that men in their thirties
and forties, often overseas, were willing to send expensive gifts to their favourite
children - known as 'camgirls'.
The development has alarmed the police and campaigners for child safety. Detective Chief
Superintendant Len Hynds, head of Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit - which last week
smashed the 'Shadowz Brotherhood' child porn ring - said it was likely that paedophiles
were already targeting some of these schoolgirls' sites.
'It's a very worrying trend, and clearly something we should be getting a more accurate
picture of,' he said last night. By linking their websites to 'wishlists' on shopping
sites such as Amazon.com and the Playboy Store, camgirls are receiving gifts ranging from
underwear to DVDs. Some offer 'special pictures' as a reward.
A number of schoolgirls contacted by the Observer admitted to receiving hundreds of pounds
worth of lingerie and CDs, and in some cases commission for advertising porn sites.
Last week, Felicite.com, one of the sites offering wishlists, suspended 100 accounts
linked to camgirl sites, including some from the UK. This followed the murder of a
13-year-old girl, Christina Long, in Greenwich, Connecticut, close to the 'real world'
base of Felicite.com.
(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,750923,00.html)