VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Every day, undercover officers are monitoring the internet, looking for child predators who are trying to lure young girls and boys. However, they only catch a fraction of them.
Detectives with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said the most dangerous thing you can do is give your child unsupervised, unlimited access on their phone, tablet or online games.
"If there is a social media site out there we know is being utilized by a juvenile, we're on it. We're monitoring everything that is the latest and greatest on social media," Lt. Kurt Schoeps said. "If you are a parent, and you are not monitoring what your child is doing online, it starts right there."
Between Oct.10 and Oct. 14, more than 50 law enforcement professionals across Central Florida collaborated for a massive undercover operation, called Operation Unlawful Attraction, during which authorities spent hours online searching for child predators. Undercover detectives pretending to be 14-year-old girls and boys visited social media, gaming and dating sites.
The Sheriff's Office granted News 6 behind-the-scenes access to see the logistics behind day one of the operation. However, detectives asked us not to reveal key details, like which sites were targeted. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood announced at an Oct. 15 news conference that there were more than 50 contacts made with men seeking to have sex with underage kids, in some cases sending explicit photos to agents who they thought were 14-year-old girls.
"You got these predators out there that are looking to destroy some young person's childhood," Chitwood said. "They're looking to steal their innocence away, and we're not going to let it happen."
Seven men were arrested during the sting. Officials with the Sheriff's Office said the suspects traveled to parking lots across Volusia County to meet children for sex and instead were arrested. They will face charges of using a computer to seduce, solicit or lure a child; traveling to seduce, solicit, lure a child; attempted lewd and lascivious battery; and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.
Schoeps said they have seen past cases where an 8-year-old was chatting and sending nude pictures. He said parents should have some sort of parental control and monitoring system in place.
"We can't do it all. We need the parents to step up and monitor what's going on behind closed doors," Schoeps said.Â
Why do child predators continue to seek out kids on the internet, knowing undercover agents are online posing as teenage bait and that they could get arrested?
"That's their makeup, that's what makes them tick," Sgt. Patrick Leahy said. "That's the excitement, the allure. They don't want to be with an adult. They want to be with a child. They'll do whatever they can, even knowing that it is potentially a law enforcement officer they are speaking with, with the hopes that it is that child that they might be able to meet and exploit that child sexually. So they are willing to take that risk."
Leahy said child predators stalk popular sites like "Fortnite," SnapChat, Instagram, MeetUp and others, looking for vulnerable children willing to start a conversation and then grooming them in order to exploit and seduce.
Leahy explained that the undercover stings are making progress to identify predators.
"Anytime we can identify one of these people we haven't identified before, we are ahead of the game," Leahy​​​​​​​ said.
Most of the men arrested in Operation Unlawful Attraction were not known to law enforcement before their arrests, Leahy​​​​​​​ said. Only one had unwittingly made contact with the Sheriff's Office before. Last time, that man failed to appear for the meet, but this time he showed up.
However, Leahy​​​​​​​ said for every one predator they catch, there are countless more that are still trying to make contact with kids, and with new apps and games and social media sites cropping up every day, it creates a massive playground for both kids and predators.
"There are very evil people out there that will do whatever they can to a child if given the opportunity," Leahy​​​​​​​ said.Â
Parents like Tom and Cheryl Dowless trust their son not to talk to strangers online or on the phone, but even they wonder how anyone can know for sure, especially when predators pretend to be teens too.
"It was very eye-opening," said Cheryl Dowless. "As a parent, you think that you're doing everything you possibly can. We're not. There's more that you can do."
Cyber expert Chris Hadnagy started the Innocent Lives Foundation to help parents protect their kids.
"They look for what your kids are posting publicly, and then they look for ins," said Hadnagy. "I've worked on a couple of cases where groomers used Instagram and sites like this (teen dating site), reaching out to a fellow 14-year-old."
He showed Tom and Cheryl Dowless what is really lurking on the dark web and ways parents can prevent their kids from becoming victims.
"I'll be upfront. A lot are unpopular," said Hadnagy. "They take a little extra work and are not easy."
Hadnagy says the No. 1 thing parents can do is communicate the dangers to their children. Next,  Hadnagy recommends using a parental monitoring app on their computer, tablet and phone.
"I think any effort you put into monitoring your kids is worth it," said Hadnagy. "If you are not monitoring your kids, someone else is - and they don't have the same intentions."
That is enough to make the Dowless family anxious enough to take action.
"Oh yeah, two apps will go on both of our phones," said Cheryl Dowless.
Here’s a list of recommended parental control apps: