Fake ad for sex with minors in Ontario gets nearly 6,700 clicks in four days

A fake advertisement for sex with minors run in Ontario received 6,600 clicks in four days, according the Durham Regional Police.

The service, which patrols Pickering to Oshawa east of Toronto, operates a prominent Human Trafficking investigative Unit. One of this unit’s priorities is addressing the sexual exploitation of children and youth through proactive initiatives.

This ongoing project called is Operation Firebird. It’s designed to target those attempting to molest minors as well as supporting the victims. Often investigators will poses as a youth online in order to ensnare sexual predators.

In their latest operation, they posted a fake ad for sex with a minor online.  In total 6,678 people clicked on the link within four days. A phone number associated with the fake ad received 600 calls.

As a result, five people were arrested for trying to procure sexual services from minors and two other related charges including;

• Krish Subiah, 37 of Clarington
• Rajwant Singh, 30 of Belleville
• Mahbubar Rahman, 48 of Pickering
• Sarangan Kirupamoorthy, 28 of Whitby
• Rajasekaran Natarajan, 38 of Clarington

“This project would not be possible without the support of the Ontario government funding to our Children at Risk of Exploitation (CARE) unit,” police said, “Our CARE unit has specialized teams that pair police officers with child protection workers to proactively identify, investigate, locate, and engage children and youth who are at high risk of child sex trafficking.”

Anyone with further information about the ad can call the Durham Human Trafficking Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5600 or CrimeStoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)