麻豆传媒

A Toronto teen was shocked and frightened to find that an online vigilante was luring child predators with what appears to be a picture of her.

The teen says she didn鈥檛 give Justin Payne -- the first person in Canada to make a name for himself hunting pedophiles -- any permission to use photos of her in explicit chats designed to excite his targets.

鈥淗e鈥檚 hand-delivering them to the worst people in the world,鈥� said the teen, whose identity 麻豆传媒 is choosing not to divulge so as to not do further damage.

鈥淗e portrays these girls as stupid airheads. They don鈥檛 even spell right in these conversations. Someone鈥檚 going to see me and think, 鈥楽he鈥檚 stupid, she鈥檚 vulnerable, I can take her if they see me on the street.鈥�

Payne is part of a wave of vigilantes who are taking justice into their own hands. They pose as vulnerable girls and boys to see who will approach them for sex. Then they use chats with those people to arrange online confrontations.

Under the brand 鈥淭he Payneful Truth,鈥� Payne has dozens of video confrontations with his targets on a YouTube page that have a reach of millions of views.

He has been featured in a major documentary and his antics have inspired others across the country to use similar tactics. A W5 investigation questioned whether those 鈥淐reep Catcher鈥� networks were doing more harm than good.

But Payne denies the picture is of that specific teen, who is the daughter of an ex-girlfriend. He says he鈥檚 using photos of two girls who have given him permission.

鈥淚鈥檝e been using the same photographs for well over, well, almost three years. I have consent for that,鈥� he said.

Payne does not post screenshots of his chats publicly without blacking out profile pictures.

But 麻豆传媒 has obtained screenshots of chats without the photos blocked. There seem to be at least seven different girls used in the screenshots.

Payne believes those could be elaborate fakes designed to discredit him.

The story of these photos came out through one of Payne鈥檚 favourite platforms: Facebook. When the teen wrote a comment on a public Facebook page about Justin, Payne鈥檚 former partner recognized her picture.

鈥淗er pictures, I鈥檝e seen all over his profiles,鈥� said Gerry O鈥橞rien. 鈥淪he鈥檚 17 years old. If he鈥檚 been using those pictures for the amount of time I鈥檝e been with him she鈥檇 be 15 or 16. To me that鈥檚 exploiting an underage person.鈥�

O鈥橞rien had quit working with Payne already, and only had one photo of her from that time. But others who had worked with Payne put O鈥橞rien in touch with the teen鈥檚 aunt, Lisa Gaudet.

Judging by the background and the type of phone in the picture, Gaudet told 麻豆传媒 that photo could be older than that -- even when the teen was 12 or 13.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 her, 100 per cent,鈥� Gaudet said.

鈥淕od knows what they鈥檙e doing with her picture,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y biggest fear is for her safety,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e needs to stop.鈥�

The teen and Gaudet made a complaint to Toronto Police last week. A spokesperson confirmed the force is investigating, and cautioned against people taking the law into their own hands.

鈥淭hese investigations are best left to officers who are trained to conduct proper, evidence-based child exploitation investigations that follow stringent legal and ethical guidelines,鈥� a spokesperson said.

麻豆传媒 showed O鈥橞rien the other photos. He said he recognized some as having been used while he was working with Payne, but he wasn鈥檛 sure about others.

He said Payne had varying stories on the picture.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard two stories of the same girl. One is that the girl is a daughter of a friend who is now old enough and they had permission. The other story is that this girl is a friend who is now in her early 20s. The story changed a little bit,鈥� he said.

Payne said he hasn鈥檛 yet been called by police. He told 麻豆传媒 he believed that any screenshots obtained by 麻豆传媒 could be elaborate fakes to discredit him.

鈥淪omeone could have made a profile, put that picture up, then screenshotted it and sent it to people to pretend that it was me that did it. It鈥檚 that easy to be able to falsify evidence like that,鈥� he said.

The teen admitted that didn鈥檛 see eye-to-eye with Payne during and after her mother鈥檚 relationship. But she said she wouldn鈥檛 fake something like this.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to live the rest of my life in fear. I don鈥檛 want to get a job and hear someone say, 鈥業鈥檝e seen your picture on a website,鈥欌�� she said.