A
20-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly using fake
Facebook profiles to send inappropriate messages to at least
two young teenage girls.
Police investigated after a girl in the Hutt Valley area laid
a complaint last week.
The man had allegedly created at least three fictitious
profiles to send the messages, which Detective Kylee Cusin
said had "a sexual undertone".
One of the profiles was under the false name of Nick Davis
and featured a fake photo.
Ms Cusin said a 20-year-old Upper Hutt man had been arrested
and would appear in court today. The charges had yet to be
decided.
Ms Cusin said two teenagers had laid complaints and it was
more than likely the offender had contacted others.
Police have called for any young women who have been
inappropriately contacted by "Nick Davis" on Facebook to get
in touch.
Wellington police spokesman Nick Bohm said police had
identified a number of profiles allegedly belonging to the
man.
"When you look at the number of people that those profiles
are in contact with, there's a potential pool there that is
quite concerning."
Meanwhile, girls using a popular Facebook page to sell and
buy secondhand clothes have been warned about a "predator"
profile.
The account named "Lisa Lee" has asked members of the Walk In
Wardrobe group, used by more than 28,200 people, for pictures
of them wearing underwear and see-through dresses.
Lisa Lee asked Sophie Burnside about her boyfriend before
requesting a photograph of her in a G-string.
"It was really creepy ... you just have to be so careful with
who you're dealing with on the internet because at the end of
the day, you never really know who's at the other end of it."
Ms Burnside, 23, of Auckland, first encountered Lisa Lee
after she posted a picture of a dress that she was trying to
sell in the group late last year. But Ms Burnside was alarmed
when Lisa Lee messaged her asking for a picture of her
wearing the dress in heels.
When she didn't respond, Lisa Lee then contacted her again
asking her if she got the first request and then messaged her
through Facebook.
Netsafe's chief technology officer, Sean Lyons, said they had
received a number of complaints about people making
inappropriate contact through trading sites, including Trade
Me, though none were from Walk In Wardrobe.
"When we choose to interact in a very public place, I guess
we have to be prepared that as much as we like to think that
we know and trust the people around us, there will be parts
of our society that may want to contact us and we're not
going to like what they say. People need to be mindful of
that."
- Matthew Backhouse of APNZ and Amelia Wade of the New
Zealand Herald
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