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Queensland's Task Force Argos police have uncovered several cases in which internet predators targeted women who have young children.
Initially flattering the women, the predators then progressed to talking about sex involving their kids.
In one case now before the courts a mother allegedly helped a man she had met on an online dating site to commit sexual offences against her own daughters.
"We've definitely got predators grooming mums to access their children," Detective Senior Sergeant Jon Rouse said.
"It's a shopping trolley. It's so easy with the amount of information people are putting online. I've even seen photos of women posing with their children," he said.
The Sunday Mail found numerous examples of women revealing in their popular online-dating site profiles how many children they have, their ages and sometimes their sex. One Brisbane mother revealed she was not only living on her own with a child, but also had a business caring for several young children.
Det Sen-Sgt Rouse said women who wanted to date on-line should not advertise the fact that they had young children.
Earlier this year Task Force Argos began an investigation after a Queensland mother said a man she had met through an internet-dating site was showing inappropriate interest in her children.
"He hit on her online and was being quite aggressive about wanting to talk to her children about sex," Det Sen-Sgt Rouse said.
A covert officer posing as a similar mother with two children engaged in ongoing chats with the suspect.
Police allege the man progressed to teaching the "mother" grooming methods to sexually abuse her children and expressed an interest in meeting her so he could have sex with her children.
Another officer then assumed the identity of the daughter, 11, and the man allegedly groomed her on sexual matters, saying he wanted to come to Queensland to have sex with her.
He was arrested when he arrived in Queensland in April, charged with 30 offences and released on bail.
Police allege he went online again and engaged in chat with a Task Force Argos officer posing as a single mum with five children. It will be alleged the man sent the "mum" pornography to show her daughter, and when an officer went online as the girl, he allegedly said she could be taught sex acts by her mum.
The man was arrested and charged a second time when he returned to Queensland early this month. He was remanded in custody and is awaiting a court hearing.
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