NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- Kids are facing a danger online parents might not have heard about.
"Facebook teen dating groups" are a popular place teens share pictures and sometimes inappropriate messages, but they could also make your children prey for predators and bullies.
How it works might shock you.
If you type in "teen dating groups" on the search bar in Facebook, plenty of options pop up. Some of them attract kids as young as 13. Thousands of people, supposedly teenagers, are members. We've learned a lot of parents have no idea these groups exist and that their children are in them.
In one online photo, a 13-year-old stares out from the computer screen. Her expression is serious, one might even say, sad.
In another profile picture on Nicole Lovell's Facebook page, the young girl pouts at the camera, snapping a selfie.
Nicole could be any teenager across the world or right here in Hampton Roads. Like most of them, she had an online life, one where she posted pictures with her friends and talked about her love of animals.
“Coley had a passion for pandas, music, dancing,” her tearful mother Tammy Weeks said in a press conference.
But it wasn't all the innocence you might expect from a 13-year-old. Nicole advertised her relationship status. She was even a member of groups like "Netflix and Chill" and "Teen Dating."
Weeks told the Washington Post her daughter had been bullied online. A photo posted to a teen dating group that Facebook has now shut down received mean comments. Child safety experts say those comments may have made Nicole an easy target for predators.
Last January, the Blacksburg teen would be found dead. Authorities say she was killed by two Virginia Tech students, one of whom she met online.
“Nicole was a very lovable person,” her mother sobbed. “Nicole touched many people throughout her short life.”
So what are these groups? How can you make sure your kids are safe in them?
“My guess is parents have no idea that their kids are even doing this,” reacted Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Healey.
Healey has been the coordinator of Project Safe Childhood in the Western District of Virginia since it started a decade ago.
“One of them says, 'Teen Dating 13-19,' so we're not even talking about 16- and 17-year-olds or high school students. You're talking about kids who are in middle school and that should be disturbing to people,” she explained.
We found a lot of disturbing posts. One says, "Like if u want to video chat has to be a freak." Another is a pornographic video. One advertises as is "the instant love page for teens."
“So they're looking outside of the people they've gotten to know, their communities or the kids in their school for people they know nothing about to find love,” Healey noted. “These types of things are alarming.”
We've heard some parents ask why Facebook allows any of this activity in the first place; why wouldn't the social media giant take down the groups?
“You can take one down, and five may show up,” Healey told us. “It's the same with child pornography sites.”
We brought the issue to the company: a spokesperson tells 13News Now they have removed some groups like this in the past, just like they did to the group where Nicole Lovell posted.
Users can let the site know if there are things they are concerned about, and Facebook will see if it violates its "community standards." No nudity, bullying or hate speech is allowed.
Even Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring believes the company tries to do the right thing.
“Sometimes, the challenge is the platform itself is not unlawful,” Herring said. “The platform itself could be very helpful. It's what people do when they use it, that sometimes it could cross the line.”
Experts have developed technology to detect impersonation accounts. For example, it can find an adult who may be posing as a teen to lure someone in these groups. There's even a Family Safety Center about how to have the conversation with your children.
“The most important tool is talk to them,” Healey maintained.
As the murder of Nicole Lovell winds its way through the court system, the conversations and outreach became a way to combat an issue experts say may never go away.
“I would much rather stop one kid from doing a terrible mistake which could get them hurt, than have another person to prosecute,” Healey added.
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