Online predators. We've all heard from them. Some are easy to see through with their unrehearsed lies and blunt questions. Others are sneaky, they gain your trust, easing information out of you. It doesn't matter the type you encounter, they all want the same thing: to ruin your life for their own pleasure. It has to stop.

Just yesterday, I'd had a new message request. It simply read 'Hello cutie'. I knew straight away what was happening. It must be noted that these aren't just one off events, they're starting to turn into weekly occurrences. l've come into acquaintance with some who have claimed to be in the US army, others who have asked to video call, but they all end up with asking for pictures. If I wasn't so used to these types of messages and aware as to what was going on from the beginning, I would of more than likely sent a photo to one of these strange people who portray themselves as figures of authority, law and military to gain your trust. Who wouldn't trust someone who fights for your country, puts criminals away or helps run the country?

Also, I'd heard of this particular man before, messaging other Instagram pages similar to that of my own. So I was blunt with him and told him to stop, before I reported him. He replied with 'do you know before and I don't know you also so why'. I didn't have a clue what he meant. I replied with a sneaky 'did you use Google Translate for that?' implying that he clearly was not used to speaking English. He then asked where I was from and I realised he was not going to stop, so I decided to play him at his own game. I told him to guess where I was from. He didn't guess, he simply said 'Am from Spain but live and go to school in Michigan. I work at the government'. He'd just slipped up. How could a schoolboy be working for the American Government? He continued with his blatant lies, saying he'd worked there for 8 years among other absurd things. When I questioned him on it, he said he was born in America. Can you spot another flaw in his story?

After a while of trying to get him to realise that he was an awful liar, I finally gave up and confronted him. 'Drop the act. You're done for. You picked the wrong person to message. Why don't you think of that before you start trying to hit up random people and asking them where they live'. For a small moment, I thought I'd frightened him away, as he replied with no no no and didn't say anything else for about 5 minutes. Then a notification came up on my phone. He'd sent a photo. Curiosity got the better of me so I checked it. What I saw was a photo of 'him'. Who's profile had he stolen this photo from? He then proceeded to ask to see my pictures. By this point I was starting to get worried. What had I gotten myself into? Was he going to find me? Could he track me? I didn't answer him. I didn't know what to do. Then he messaged me, with something that to be quite frank scared me. 'Am here to make funs and be in a relationship with a woman'. How dare he say something like that! He didn't know how old I was, if I was in a relationship or even if I was a woman at all. I had to report him, but not before making sure he knew that no woman was ever going to send him photos again. 

Once I got onto the report page of Instagram, I was unsure as to what I should do. For one, I could only report his profile or solitary picture, which looked 'clean' and not even slightly alarming. Secondly, the closest I could get to report him for being an online predator was either 'nudity and pornography' or 'harassment or bullying'. I chose the latter and hoped for the best. 

Half an hour later, Instagram contacted me. They said they'd reviewed his account and found no signs of bullying or harassment. He was free to carry on with his disgusting behaviours. I was upset, shocked and angry at Instagram for not taking the account down. What if he was messaging a naive 11 year old, unaware of the dangers that could occur if they gave him the information he was after. I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I put a post on my story, naming the account and explaining that if he got into contact with anyone, they should screenshot the messages and report him. It was shared multiple times and within an hour his account was gone. Instagram had not deleted it, he had. He probably now has another account in which he can carry on pursuing his unsuspecting victims. 

Had there of been a predator report button in the first place, none of this would've happened. His account would've been deleted and investigated by Instagram and he'd of hopefully gotten into a lot of trouble for his actions. If these accounts are not being deleted at first detection, then who knows what could happen. If these accounts are allowed to carry on with what they are doing, then something bad could happen. If these accounts get the right information out of the right person, then something bad will happen, perhaps even to someone that you know.