The Dutch arm of international group Terres Des Hommes has trapped “international Webcam sex tourists” from 65 countries.

Using an avatar in place of a 10-year-old child, the group claims it identified more than 1,000 adults “willing to pay children in developing countries to perform sexual acts in front of the webcam” by using the avatar.

The avatar (named "Sweetie") was approached by 20,000 people. Terres Des Hommes is trying to use social media to identify the individuals.

Not everyone is pleased with this. Europol said that “criminal investigations using intrusive surveillance measures should be the exclusive responsibility of law enforcement agencies." While the UK's National Crime Agency said:“tackling child sex abusers is best left to specialist law enforcement agencies”.

Terres Des Hommes countered: “Individuals who initiate contact and request a sexual webcam show from someone claiming to be a prepubertal child are not victims of entrapment. Terre des Hommes Netherlands regards those individuals as predators who are actively attempting to abuse children through WCST and who can therefore be considered “inclined” or predisposed to commit this crime.”

a YouTube video about the use of "Sweetie" can be found here.