If you’ve never heard of Omegle before, it’s a website, not an app, that allows strangers to chat with each other. It can be a webcam chat or not depending on the user’s preference. Omegle claims the video chats are monitored but I question how close they’re monitoring the chats since stories like this continue to crop up. There is no age verification on Omegle and while their terms of service state you must be 13 to use the site, anyone with an internet-enabled device that has a camera can use it. In Omegle’s defense, they have reported instances of abuse in the past to the NCMEC.
One of Omegle’s off-brand uses by predators is to exchange child porn with each other. That is what supposedly led to the arrest of 29-year-old Andre Esparra of Sarasota, Florida. Local police received a tip from the NCMEC. They say they received a tip from an email provider that an account with the user name ‘boyoloveschurch1’ was using the account to allegedly store child porn. This led police to Esparra who is said to have told police that he went on Omegle to chat with women but received the child porn images and was saving them for ‘later use’. Ew.
If you want to make sure that you’re kids are not using Omegle, you have to check their browser history and not which apps they’re using. And just in general, I recommend making sure that your kids do not have an internet-enabled device in their bedroom after bedtime. These can include, phones, tablets, and laptops.
(Sources)
WWSB
Bradenton Herald
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 