An 11-year-old girl from Salford was left shocked and distressed after a man in his 40s contacted her on the popular video chat app ooVoo and exposed himself.
Her mum has contacted SalfordOnline.com to warn other parents to be aware of the apps their children are using.
If you’ve not heard of ooVoo before, your children probably have.
The instant messaging and video chat app, which works on phones, tablets and computers, allows users to register with Facebook and then to speak to up to 12 people at a time for free.
The US business boasts of having 100 million users with 100,000 new accounts registered every day.
It was launched in 2007 but its popularity in the UK has been growing rapidly over the past two to three years, and it now claims to be the world’s largest free video and messaging app.
The 11-year-old originally downloaded the app to her Android phone around 12 months ago so she could use it talk to her cousin.
Oovoo says it has a policy of users being 13 years of age or older, but reports are widespread of children as young as 8 using the app without their accounts being flagged.
On the Apple App store the product is listed as being for ages 4+, and on Google Play for Android phones there is no age warning at all.
The 39-year-old mother, who cannot be identified, said: “It happened on Saturday afternoon.
“My daughter was upstairs talking to her cousin and then she came downstairs looking a bit panicked.
“I asked her if everything was okay, and she said: ‘No mum, this man’s just popped up on ooVoo.
‘He was waving at me to come closer to the camera and then he pointed his webcam downwards and showed his bits’.
“I felt sick, I was absolutely shocked and outraged that this could happen.
“I monitor her Facebook very closely and make sure all her privacy settings are right so that no-one who doesn’t know her can see her profile, but I didn’t even think that someone who wasn’t friends with her could contact her on ooVoo.
“She screenshotted the man’s picture because she didn’t want this to happen to anyone else and then deleted the app straightaway.”
The man seems to be in his mid-40s and of Arabic appearance but little more is known about him.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that their sexual offences crime unit are now investigating.
The girl was left very nervous by the experience and even slept in her mum’s bed for two nights after it happened.
Now she won’t use her phone without her mum being there.
“I had conversations with both my 11-year-old and my 15-year-old daughters about online safety before this happened,” said the mum.
“I said to them if someone you don’t know approaches you online you don’t accept them as a friend and if there’s ever any problems you come and tell me.
“I’m so proud of her that she came and told me and I’m lucky in a way that they trust me enough to tell me.”
The NSPCC runs Net-aware.org, a social media and interactive app guide for parents of 8-12 year olds.
It found that 53% of children and young people surveyed thought ooVoo could be risky because of the ease of talking to strangers and potential access to inappropriate sexual content.
Concerns posted online include a 33-year-old mum who noted ‘Video chats are easily linked with Facebook contacts so it could quickly get out of hand and so caution would be advised’.
A 15-year-old boy reported: “You can talk to strangers and see naked people and inappropriate body parts,” while a 48-year-old mum added: “There’s not many safeguards in place so children could be in contact with anyone.”
“ooVoo is cool”, says its website. “65% of our users are under 25 years old.”
It also says it has more women – at 53% – than men using the app.
But other forces are concerned that older men are hijacking younger children’s conversations.
Leicestershire Police reported that it had been passed information that “older males in particular, are misusing the site, causing distress to younger people.”
They said in a statement to the Leicester Mercury: “Please be aware your children have control over who they speak to on Oovoo, but they need to set their privacy settings and to only accept requests from people they know.”
An NSPCC spokesman told SalfordOnline.com that ooVoo is an app “that causes us considerable concern”.
In a statement the NSPCC said: “Many young people have told us they do not feel safe using it and are worried about things like sexual content and talking to strangers.
“The internet can be a great place for children to learn, socialise and be creative but there are risks which children and parents need to be aware of.
“There is lots of advice and information on our website about keeping children safe online, including a guide for parents on the social networking sites that children use.”
In a statement ooVoo said: “ooVoo is a closed network and we recommend you only accept friend requests from your friends, family and people you know and trust.
“We take security and privacy issues very seriously and have a chief privacy officer who extracts and deletes any accounts which may place children, or any ooVoo user at risk.
“ooVoo has a strict policy of users being 13 years of age and older. ooVoo also has a dedicated network operations and security team and we spend significant resources maintaining and enhancing the security of our network from outside threats in order to provide our users with the safest possible experience.
“These are issues for the social network industry as a whole and we all must strive to provide our users a safe and private user experience.”
The mum added: “Given the experience we’ve had I would tell parents not to let their children use this app for their children’s safety.
More information is available for parents at net-aware.org.uk or on the NSPCC website.
