Apps and social media parents have to watch out for, according to SA lawyer Andrew Carpenter

Child predators are increasingly using popular apps to groom, track, and exploit victims – with one pinpointing kids to exact locations in their own home.

Child predators are preying on unsuspecting kids using popular apps such as Roblox and Snapchat – which allow offenders to pinpoint the exact location of their would-be victims.

More often than ever before, law enforcement groups are “regularly seeing cases” involving children being targeted through online games, social networking, video-sharing apps and instant messaging software.

Victims advocate Andrew Carpenter - the “man most hated by Australian child sex offenders” - said parents need to be more wary of predators inside the home, not outside.

He told The Advertiser 92 per cent of all survivors of child sexual abuse were abused by people known to them – “whether it’s a neighbour, teacher, scouts leader or sports coach”.

“The whole ‘stranger danger’ thing is a bit of a farce, because the most dangerous place for a child to be abused is actually at their house,” Mr Carpenter said.

When it comes to online abuse, it’s “mainly through children’s games – video games that don’t have censored chats,” he said.

“With Roblox, there’s a lot of child sex offenders that actually use that, because the chats can actually have uncensored material.

Mr Carpenter said adults playing a child’s game – like Roblox – “is always something that should raise particular concerns”.

“Snapchat is particularly dangerous because an offender can find where a child is on the map function within half a metre of where they’re currently sitting. So they’ll be friends with children on online games, ask for their Snapchat, and then be able to locate them that way.”

Statistics compiled by Websters Lawyers show that, on no less than six separate days in 2025, more than one third of all matters in court were related to child sexual allegations.

That number peaked at 51.85 per cent of all cases on January 28 – up from 2024’s high of 42.1 per cent.

Snapchat, Mr Carpenter said, is “particularly dangerous”. Picture: NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Earlier this month, The Advertiser published its third annual database of convicted child sexual offenders – comprising of two SA Police officers – one of whom was serving at the time of his offending – multiple teachers and a sound engineer.

Five of the people on this year’s list are women, including an actor, model and author who said “there’s only so long you can have sympathy for the victim” as she was jailed.

An Australian Federal Police spokesman said that, in the 2023-2025 financial year, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received 58,503 reports of online material – up 45 per cent from the previous year.

Mr Carpenter has now urged parents to “make sure location services are off” on their children’s devices. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Any internet application or social media platform that enables users to send messages and exchange media files can be exploited by child abuse offenders to target children,” they said.

“Police have seen offenders using multiple platforms, with multiple identities, to groom as many children as possible.”

Work continues on the state government’s official child sexual offender register, which was announced in July 2024 after being a 2022 pre-election promise.

The register will be “housed” in the $19 million digital police station – a government spokesman said SA Police were currently working on its virtual infrastructure.

Originally published as Apps and social media parents have to watch out for, according to SA lawyer Andrew Carpenter