Parents Against Grooming UK warn of Amino app

Amino app

The Parents Against Grooming UK group is warning parents to be vigilant after several members of the group have reported their children being groomed via phone app, Amino.

The Rochdale-based group is urging parents to keep a close eye on their online activity after a member, known as Amanda* reported her concerns to them.

Amanda said her son had signed up for the app behind her back when he was away at his dad’s for the weekend, after previously telling him he could not sign up for it.

She said: “I had no idea about it until I had a phone call from school after he told someone he had a boyfriend. He’s confused about his sexuality, which I have no problem with, but when he’s 15 and the apparent boy is 18, it’s a concern.”

She says her son, who has autism, had arranged to meet the other person and had exchanged ‘personal pictures’ via the app.

She reported the incident to the police in December.

This is not the first time such goings-on have been reported. In October 2016, Amino hit headlines over concerns it may be used to groom children.

The Lancashire Telegraph reported fears had emerged that the social media app could be used to groom children, after an investigation into the app’s safety was conducted by the Titan, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit.

In October last year, Lancashire County Council issued a warning, as “the site appears to revolve around fantasy role play, this could also make it a tool for use by child sexual exploitation perpetrators wishing to contact or groom victims.”

They advised: “Young people and their parents need to remind themselves that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are, and don't give out information that could identify themselves.”

Amino bills itself as ‘a network of communities that lets you explore, discover, and obsess over the things you’re into. Each community has great content, the friendliest of people, and exciting events.’

Users can download the app onto Android or Apple devices and allows users to chat and discuss fantasies based on their hobbies, interests and goals via categorised communities.

The app appears to appeal to children with the colourful cartoon characters and could easily be overlooked by parents.

Another parent, Sue* says her 13-year-old daughter and her friend were using the app around two weeks ago and both had received similar messages.

She said: “My daughter’s friend was caught using this app and her mum saw the disgusting messages on there. She took the phone off her and it’s now in police possession.

“She rang my sister to warn me basically and when I checked my daughter’s phone, she had the app on there. She did say she’d deleted some of the more suspicious messages, but I was concerned as she’d been asked for pictures of her ‘garden’.

“I didn’t know it was a term for lady parts, and I was paranoid it was a stalker.”

“One of the users of this site has also added my daughter on Hang Outs [an Android messaging app]. You have to use an email with that and she has always used her dad’s. When he turned the iPad on, similar messages were coming through there so I think this person has added her on Hang Outs before we deleted Amino.

“My daughter has learning difficulties so I don’t think she understands what he’s trying to do. I’ve been watching all week and he has started sexual role play with my daughter. She stopped one saying, ‘not tonight’ because she was tired.

“She still thinks they’re her friends even though I haven’t stopped going on about the dangers to her. She’s not talking to me about it so another family member asked how she can be certain he is who he says he is. She says he knows her because he met her when she was six. He’s sent other messages saying it’s summer where he is and he’ll come and get her. She told him she doesn’t have a passport; he replied saying you don’t need one, I’ll get you a ticket.”

Sue added: “I feel physically sick. This is not a safe app for children. You don’t know that other children will be as lucky and have a parent who notices.”

Sue took screenshots of their conversations and says the police are taking her daughter’s phone.

Their concerns are echoed online where a disturbing number of reviews mention their children were involved in ‘a sexual encounter’ via the app.

One review left by ‘Katie M’ said: “I caught my son (10-year-old) talking about inappropriate sexual activity with strangers. This is just another way for sexual predators to get to our children.”

Another parent, ‘Todd B’ wrote: “My son was invited by some friends in the neighbourhood to join this community. I had my concerns so I monitored the interactions. Unfortunately, what seemed innocent turned to more of a sexual encounter where my son was invited into a mature site to role play sex. The app has been deleted.”

However, Amino is currently rated 4.8 out of five stars on both the App Store and the Play store, with over 363,000 five star reviews.

* Names have been changed to protect identities