Net paedophiles may lose credit cards

Paedophiles buying child pornography on the internet face having their credit cards withdrawn under radical new plans to crack down on child abuse.

Officers from the national crime squad and the FBI are spearheading an international child protection force which will put pressure on credit card companies to ban internet paedophiles from holding cards in a bid to stop them paying to download images from websites.

Other plans include: targeting the assets of organised crime gangs who run the websites, and monitoring conversations in internet chatrooms to stop paedophiles from grooming their victims over the web.

The plans were discussed at a meeting in London today of the Virtual Global Task Force which was set up six months ago to make the internet safer for young people. National Crime Squad assistant chief constable and chair of the VGTF Jim Gamble said: "We all need to keep thinking of new ways to tackle these types of offenders."

Police in the UK, America, Australia and Canada will monitor the web 24 hours a day. They hope to warn chat room users if a dialogue becomes potentially dangerous. A symbol may appear on computer screens to let chat room users know they are being overheard.

Mr Gamble said: "The Task force is an international key weapon in the fight against onlinepaedophile activity and we want to develop new initiatives which undermine the confidence of those who think the internet is anonymous."

The new task force, consisting of around 20 delegates, was set up in the wake of Operation Ore, which was launched two years ago after US investigators found customers from around the world were accessing images of child abuse from a Texas based site.

It identified more than 7,000 suspects on its list and the operation led to more than 1,200 convictions in the UK.

Paedophiles used the website called Landslide Productions to download child pornography on to computers. Subscribers gave their credit card details and were sent an email with user log-in and password. The operation also led to the development of a sting known as Operation Pin last year.

Forces in countries including Britain, Canada and Australia set up sites appearing to offer child pornography. But instead of finding images users are told they could face 10 years in jail.

Mr Gamble said following the success of Operation Pin a number of arrests were expected to be made within the next few months in the UK.

John Carter, internet adviser to children's charities in the UK including the NSPCC and Childline said: "This is a fantastic expansion of police forces across the world. The Virtual Global Task Force is the only example of international law enforcement agencies working together."