Self-styled "Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter" Cameron East. But police and criminologists have warned that the so-called "Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter" may be creating more damage than justice with his fast-growing YouTube channel. The anonymous vigilante, who Fairfax Media has established is unemployed father and former criminal Cameron East, has posted six videos since September of him confronting supposed paedophiles on the Mid North Coast. "I'm probably the only person on the dole that Australia likes," he told Fairfax Media on Wednesday. The region has developed a sinister reputation after the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell unearthed a paedophile ring.

One video show the Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter confronting a man in a park after dark and accusing him of grooming a 14-year-old girl. Credit:YouTube The Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter says he poses as a young girl on dating sites, exchanges messages with men and then agrees to meet them. At the meeting, he confronts them on camera. He has uploaded videos showing their full names and faces and says he passes chat logs on to the police. Another video shows him confronting a man in a car park in Coffs Harbour after messaging him and pretending to be a schoolgirl. Credit:YouTube "You've been messaging me the whole time, mate. I do this all the time, mate. I catch paedophiles and ... you're a f---ing deadset paedophile!" he yells at one man who allegedly thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for a "sleepover".

In one video, he films a man walking into a police station, apparently after a confrontation, and saying "Ah, I've made a few bad decisions." A screenshot from a video in which the Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter accuses a Taree man of sending explicit photos to a girl he believed was under 18. Credit:YouTube In two others, the men claim they didn't know the girls were underage. Coffs Harbour men Trent Collins, 24, and Nigel McKee, 31, have subsequently been charged with using a carriage service to procure someone under 16 for sexual activity and using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person under 16. However, Coffs/Clarence Local Area Command crime manager, Detective Inspector Darren Jameson, insisted the arrests were not based on the Pedo Hunter's work, much of which would be inadmissable evidence in court.

"Unfortunately the actions of this person, however well meaning, do not assist NSW Police in our causes," he said. "Our focus in this command in relation to suspected paedophiles is about catching them and putting them before the courts. This type of vigilante behaviour ignores those rules of evidence so ... it puts at strong risk the capability for us to obtain a prosecution or conviction in the future." He said the man might be compromising police operations that are already under way or putting himself in danger. "I have concerns over mistaken identities, people using other people's social media accounts, identity theft and fraud ... all these could mean an innocent person is publicly humiliated," he said. East, who is serving a 12-month suspended sentence for a home invasion, said he started posing as an underage girl while "mucking around" on Tinder one night.

He was also motivated by a close family friend, who raised him and carries scars from child abuse. "The numbers that are out there, there's no way the police would keep tabs on them all," he said. "I just want people to be aware." He isn't worried about being sued because "I've got no money" but he was almost run over last Friday during one confrontation. Many comments on his videos express a belief that police are not doing enough to catch paedophiles. However, Michael Salter, a criminologist at Western Sydney University, said three out of four prosecutions involving men soliciting sex with minors involve covert police entrapment.

"That means only one in four times is the man actually speaking to a child online," he said. "This is an area in which the police have a lot of resources and are very active." Dr Salter said civilian vigilantism is growing in the digital age but there is no evidence that it helps keep children safe. The Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter appears to be more about macho grandstanding than protecting children, he said. "When I think about my heroes in this space, they are working really hard, often behind the scenes, trying to get real change for child abuse victims," he said. "They're not the ones painting a big Superman symbol on their chests."

East said he isn't looking for fame but would like some help to pay his phone's data bill. "No prise [sic] or fame from me just peds off the street and I'm happy," he said in one comment on a video. After a commenter suggested it was a job for trained professionals, he replied: "If I went to th cops 25tthousand [sic] people wouldn't know in 5 days."