by Keith Lubsen

Chris Hansen, correspondent for NBC News “Dateline NBC”, spoke about what he learned while working as a journalist and correspondent on ”To Catch a Predator” and “To Catch an ID Thief.”

Chris began with the very popular “To Catch a Predator” series.

If you haven’t seen the show, the real life storyline of “To Catch a Predator” is adult men arranging online to physically meet with what they think to be an underage sexual partner.

The predator first identifies and then starts up a digital conversation with their intended victim. They then steer the conversation toward sex and ultimately arrange a physical meeting with the intended outcome being a sexual encounter with a minor.

A group named “Perverted Justice” is responsible for impersonating underage visitors in online chat rooms and arranging physical meetings with the men.

The “Perverted Justice” team is also responsible for keeping complete transcripts of the online conversations.

Chris and his NBC production team then stage a physical meeting place with hidden cameras and sound equipment and await the arrival of the predator.

As the predators arrive one by one, instead of being greeted by the child they thought they were going to meet, in walks Chris Hansen with a confrontation about the mens’ intentions to have sex with a minor.

On the shows first two days of filming, the NBC crew confronted seventeen adult males soliciting sex from underage partners.  The men’s vocations included a Rabbi, a teacher, and an ex-doctor.  There was also a man who arrived at the meeting location and then stripped naked prior to Chris entering the room to confront him. The next day, at a different location, the same “naked man” tried to meet another underage partner for sex. Unfortunately for this determined predator, it was Chris and his team who showed up to confront him a second time!

What does “To Catch a Predator” have to do with identity theft?

First, the Internet and digital communications (i.e., online chat rooms) are used by predators to connect with their prey.

Second, the method used by child predators to identity and victimize their prey involves profiling many people in order to locate their intended victims – in their case under age partners for sex.

Some identity thieves also use the tactic of profiling many people in order to locate their intended victims in online chat rooms.  The method used to locate victims is the same – even if the criminal act that the predator intends to commit is different – as an identity theft predator is typically after financial gain.

Thank you to the Utah AG’s office: Mark Shurtleff, Scott Morrill, Rich Hamp, John Kimball and everyone else at the Utah Office of The Attorney General for their tireless and outstanding work in the fight against identity theft.