Girls as young as 15 are able to sign up to the world’s biggest ‘sugar daddy’ website, according to an investigation by The Sunday Times.
Despite their young age, girls are able to sign up to SeekingArrangement – a website which matches young women with wealthy men willing to pay for their company.
The young people’s private information, including home address, could be found by other members, putting them at even greater risk of sexual exploitation.
Sexual hints
Women are supposed to be 18 to sign up for the website, but The Sunday Times found girls aged from 15 to 17 who have signed up, simply by ticking a box.
The website encourages its ‘sugar babies’ to add “a little sensuality” to their profiles, adding “hints and subtle sexual nods get them interested”.
SeekingArrangement said it had become aware of the security flaw six months ago, but had not alerted its users. It also said it had measures in place to identify underage users.
Sinister
Linda Papadopoulos, a psychologist who has worked for the Government on child sexualisation issues, said the site was exploiting teenage naivety.
“Very simply, access to very young women by older men has never been as easy as it is today. It feels safer even though it’s much more sinister”, she said.
She continued: “If you’re in your teens, you have less experience of interpersonal relationships and negotiation – because we’re talking about a business negotiation here.
“Most girls on these sites don’t tell their families and friends and, as a consequence, that also makes them vulnerable”.
Court case
Last year Doug Richard, formerly of TV show Dragons’ Den, admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old he had met on SeekingArrangement.
However, he was cleared after the court decided he had reasonably believed she was above the age of consent, as he had met her on a site for adults and she claimed she was 17.