It started five years ago.
Roo Powell was working at a tech company and wanted to expose just how many predators lurk online, looking for kids to target.
She and her colleagues created a fake account pretending to be a teenage girl, and it didn’t take long for the messages to flood in.
‘The volume and speed of the abusive messages were staggering — it was far worse than we anticipated,’ she says.
Powell then founded the nonprofit SOSA (Safe from Online Sex Abuse) and became the force behind two seasons of ‘Undercover Underage’ streaming on Max.
Part of Powell’s role is posing as someone underage online, called decoys, who receives up to 30 messages per day on various online platforms.
Powell and the team may also pose as a minor who has been trafficked or even someone selling a minor.
That’s what she did in a case a couple months ago with law enforcement.
‘We had a perpetrator show up with cash on hand to’ to purchase time with an 11-year-old,’ she says.
‘He showed up with a McDonald’s Happy Meal and was quickly arrested.’
PEDO HUNTER: Roo Powell was working at a tech company but quit to snare child abusers
One undercover operation generally uses multiple decoys, so the team works together to manage hundreds of messages from social media and chat rooms.
Creating a decoy isn’t as simple as thinking up a few details. It takes months, Powell says.
‘Our undercover team develops every aspect of that decoy’s story — their interests, their family members, what time they go to dance practice. We are very detailed.’
Much of that time is spent memorizing every detail about the decoy.
‘We also have to stay in character and maintain composure even during explicit and emotionally challenging video calls,’ she says.
No parent wants to think their child could be a target — but that’s just not true.
‘This can happen to any kid, regardless of socioeconomic status, regardless of gender, sexuality, kids are targeted … Really, kids are targeted just for being kids online,’ says Powell.
Their mission to expose what happens when a kid goes online ended with a federal sex abuse case.
‘That moment was a turning point for me,’ she says.
Powell’s mission is for every kid to be safe online. So far, their work has put at least 70 predators behind bars.
Powell has a surefire way to scare parents who ask her how ubiquitous this kind of online behavior is.
‘I say, ‘Give me your phone. I’ll find someone for you in 30 seconds,’ she says.
‘It does not take long at all. We post a new picture or we put a kid online or we drop a kid in a chat room and the messages come in right away.’
This isn’t a vigilante group. Powell and the SOSA team work alongside law enforcement from the beginning.
They regularly meet with the district attorney’s office, know the requirements for prosecution and follow strict evidence collection standards.
Powell has helped send 70 predators to jail
‘We’re not just doing this willy nilly because we’re trying to find some bad guy online,’ Powell says.
‘It is a very specific operation that we’re doing in conjunction with law enforcement in order to identify these bad actors or people that would harm kids in the community.’
In TV shows, movies and other media, child predators look like monsters. In reality, it could be anyone. ‘It’s the guy behind you at the grocery store,’ she says.
‘Sometimes it’s just like a very nice family man with a wife and kids. We’ve had high school teachers, medical professionals, a Department of Children and Family Services worker.
‘It could be really anyone, which is why it’s so important for parents and caregivers to talk to kids about online safety.’
One thing connecting these people, Powell says, is that they’re manipulative and practiced.
One study says the average perpetrator has 50 to 150 victims in their lifetime.
The tactics vary. A common one is to play the white knight role.
They’ll take the tact of, ‘Be careful, there’s a lot of bad people online. You really have to be careful. I’ll look out for you,’ Powell says. They pretend to be a trusted friend.
Grooming is the process predators use to slowly gain trust. It starts with small requests to get the child comfortable saying yes, like ‘What’d you have for breakfast?’ then ‘Send me a pic of it.’
‘Feels like an innocuous enough request, so you send a picture of the oatmeal.’
Then it grows. ‘What outfit are you wearing today? Send me a picture of the outfit. And then suddenly, like after a while, you’re so used to saying yes that when a really egregious request comes across, it’s really hard for a kid who’s been groomed to say no,’ Powell says.
It’s important for kids and parents to know, she says, that kids are always the victim in this situation. This manipulation tactic works, and that isn’t their fault.
As tech develops, it’s even easier for predators to fool kids who are aware of these kinds of dangers. AI, in particular, is powerful.
‘They might use it to convincingly pretend to be a fellow minor online,’ Powell says, or use deepfake technology to turn an innocuous family photo into something explicit.
There are so many aspects of Powell’s work that make her more aware and cautious of what goes on online. But running SOSA has brought positivity to her life, too.
‘It’s reaffirmed just how many people care deeply about keeping kids safe. We hear daily from survivors, parents, and concerned community members about how our work has motivated them to advocate for child safety in their own lives.’
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