Disappearance
A thirteen-year-old girl has been found in France who had run away from home with a nineteen-year-old man. It turns out that he is no stranger to the court. The Brussels police, who tracked down the girl, warns parents and young people about the dangers of cyber luring.
According to the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, the thirteen-year-old girl was seduced by the unknown. “It was a quiet and inquisitive girl, but on February 3 she left her music lessons to go away with her ‘boyfriend’. She followed him to France, thinking he was the man of her life and that she was ready to leave home.”
The girl had met the nineteen-year-old man via the internet, where he had pretended to be a seventeen-year-old boy. The child had no access to the internet at home and her parents were unaware of the contact she had with the Frenchman. After her disappearance, the girl was traced by the Disappearances Unit of the Brussels police, which worked together with the French police services.
Following this incident, the police are once again drawing the attention of young people and parents to the dangers of online meetings and cyber luring. “The Child Focus website contains more information about what you can do if your child has online contact with a person who seems suspicious to you.”
