How actress Madeleine West’s online sleuthing led Australian Federal Police to a pedophile after she noticed a strange feature in the man’s profile

Former Neighbours star Madeleine West revealed how she alerted police to a “paedophile” who had spoken to hundreds of primary school-age girls via social media.

The actor and author, 43, said her alarm bells went off when she saw a young girl she knew and a dozen of her friends being followed on TikTok and other platforms by the same account that had not uploaded any content, prompting her to look more closely.

“He followed 4,025 accounts… So I checked the first 200 and found out they were all kids under the age of nine,” she said. Newscorp.

West said she then went through the comments on the messages the girls had made and discovered she had found comments posted by the suspect account. That gave her a shock.

“These comments were along the lines of, ‘You have such a sexy body. Can I see you without your clothes?’ And most pointedly, ‘Please put your face in the video. Can I see a message of your face?'” she said.

West said she first went to talk to the parents of the group of girls living in her area and said they had no idea their children were using these platforms, so they closed their accounts.

West said she then took screenshots of the information she found and, with the permission of the girls’ parents, forwarded it to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) and the office of the eSafety Commissioner.

“The federal police contacted me within hours because this was a determined pedophile,” she said.

Former Neighbours actress Madeleine West has revealed how her online sleuthing led her to expose a paedophile

West said the AFP told her they were investigating her tip.

The Underbelly actress and author from Melbourne has become a campaigner for child safety after revealing she was abused by a neighbor as a child.

Forty years later, she confronted her own abuser when she knocked on his door in July 2022, wearing a secret audio recording device given to her by investigators.

Peter Vincent White, now in his seventies, was given a fifteen-year prison sentence for his brutal abuse of seven young victims aged between four and fourteen.

The recording was crucial to the prosecution of White.

In the audio, West could be heard exchanging pleasantries with White and his wife, who is completely deaf, before confronting him about the abuse.

She was shocked when White said he had no memory of committing any of the crimes – before pleading for her forgiveness with four devastating words: “I’m so sorry.”

West went public with her story in January 2023 and has since become an advisor and speaker for the cybersecurity organization Safe on Social and the abuse survivors group Warriors Advocacy.

West has become an advocate for online child safety after revealing her own abuse as a child

A campaign to block children’s access to social media to limit online dangers such as predatory behavior and cyberbullying is gaining traction in Australian politics.

The current age limit for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is 13 years, but there is a lot of criticism that these age limits are not verified and can be circumvented.

Some state governments want to raise the minimum age for using social media to 16.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed these efforts and the federal opposition has pledged to introduce laws banning under-16s from social media.

Many online sites currently rely on age restriction, where users enter their age themselves. This can easily fail.

Children under 13 can provide fake birth dates to create social media accounts, and teens can simply tap “yes” when asked to verify they are over 18.

To prevent children from accessing inappropriate and harmful online content, the federal government is already funding a trial of “age guarantee” technologies.

Self-reporting is one form of age assurance, but other methods are available, including more stringent age verification processes.

Examples of this include the provision of ‘hard identification documents’ and the emergence of biometric technology.

It is believed the Australian Federal Police will conduct further investigations based on Ms West’s revelations.