A 28-year-old female sex predator is using Facebook to lure Christchurch school kids.
The Auckland woman has made contact with at least 10 teenage boys – and she is also targeting girls, The Star has learned.
They pupils are aged between 13-16.
Police are interviewing students before questioning the woman.
Police will not comment but The Star has been told she has been previously convicted for sex with a minor.
Canterbury co-ordinator for youth services Senior Sergeant John Robinson said the woman used several bogus identities to lure pupils.
One was a “hot” 16-year-old girl, and a physical education teacher aide. She always posed as an attractive young woman.
“I fear she’s going down the lines of trying to groom these boys,” he said.
She deposits $20 into the boys’ bank accounts and they then ring her.
One of the boys had been in a “relationship” with the woman for about 10 months.
It had been online and on the phone.
Police were alerted to the woman’s activities by St Thomas of Canterbury College principal Christine O’Brien.
The issue had been brought to the school’s attention about 11 days ago after a teacher saw on her daughter’s Facebook the woman’s “sexually explicit” conversation with a St Thomas of Canterbury College pupil.
She had posed as a young teacher aide.
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The parent thought the woman was a teacher at Thomas of Canterbury College and was having an affair with a student.
Ms O’Brien checked the teachers’ register and discovered the teacher did not exist.
“It then unravelled over the last couple of days,” she said.
The school sent an email warning to parents on Wednesday.
Ms O’Brien said the school was shown the online messages by students and they had “very explicit sexual connotations”.
“She poses a real risk,” she said.
“It’s a good example of a wake-up call to young people and their parents to be aware of this risk.”
Ms O’Brien said it was difficult for the boys to talk about.
“They try to maintain their bravado but underneath there is a deep sense of embarrassment, shame, and a sense of being used.”
She said the woman spun very elaborate stories to convince the students.
“She was very plausible,” she said.
Ms O’Brien said she was also concerned that the woman had elicited the students’ bank account details and parents’ credit card numbers.
Senior Sergeant Robinson said parents should warn their children that not everything was as it seemed online.
He said parents should not ban their children from using Facebook but educate them that scammers operated online.
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