A new breed of vigilante has set its sights on exposing predators trying to lure children online — using nothing but their smartphones to do so.

These self-proclaimed pedophile hunters set up fake social media profiles, masquerading as vulnerable teens, to turn the tables on the so-called “creeps.”

The online chats turn into real-world confrontations, and the smartphones used to arrange these meetings become cameras to record them.

Hundreds of Canadians from across the country have been put in the spotlight when these groups post videos to sites such as Facebook and YouTube. A handful of them have faced criminal charges. Together, the videos have millions of views.

But a W5 investigation of the largest vigilante network of its type in Canada, the Creep Catchers, has found their cameras often don’t tell the whole story.

Cases with truly horrifying chats have been lumped in with chats that show no evidence of any sexual intent, the nationwide network’s enormous online audience never knowing the difference.

Critics say the group doesn’t understand the law, and may be motivated less by a pursuit of justice as a pursuit of fame and social media reach, which can lead to money.

“My feeling was more or less anger toward the people who did this,” said Eric Rajah, the father of a young man targeted near Red Deer, Alta.

In the video, the Red Deer Creep Catcher accuses Rajah’s son of inviting a 15-year-old boy over for the night. The young man denies it in tears.

“I’m not a creep. I’m not a molester. I’m nothing,” he says.

W5 has reviewed the chat logs in that case and found no sexual content. The young man said he was offering help to a teenager who said he was growing up gay in rural Alberta. The chat logs show the pair meeting “just as friends.”

Rajah said video had caused his 22-year-old son tremendous distress and damaged his reputation. “They are using our son, or any young person for that matter, as cheap entertainment,” he said.

It doesn’t stop there. In its documentary Creep Out, W5 has explored other instances where seemingly innocent people have been labelled “goofs” — prison slang for child molester. In one case a woman who was targeted committed suicide.

It’s no coincidence the prison term “goof” is the group’s word of choice. W5 has learned that some of these Creep Catchers have a long history of criminal convictions, with one doing federal prison time.

At its height, the Creep Catchers network existed in more than a dozen Canadian cities and towns, from Surrey, B.C., to Saint John, N.B.

It was founded by Dawson Raymond, who moved to Alberta after a break-and-enter conviction in Ontario. He had watched similar videos by Toronto’s Justin Payne, the first person in Canada to make a name for himself hunting pedophiles.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Raymond wanted to convict his targets. But no charges have been laid in Alberta, where police say they want nothing to do with the Creep Catchers.

Insp. Dave Dubnyk of Alberta’s Integrated Child Exploitation unit says the evidence collected in stings by the Creep Catchers is rarely usable in court, and that the group has interfered with police operations, including one case where a man police were ready to arrest was confronted by the vigilantes.

That man cut off ties with investigators and disappeared to Winnipeg. Court documents show he’s now charged with molesting a toddler and a baby.

“What they’re doing is absolutely not protecting children in any way,” Dubnyk said.

Without the support of police, Raymond decided to widen his group’s net, targeting people whether they overtly wanted to have sex with children or not.

“We weren’t meeting these guys unless they were saying something really sexual. We weren’t trying to catch these guys unless they were getting convicted,” he says in a Facebook video to his followers.

“Well they’re not getting convicted. We’re going to start meeting all these f---ers if they want to kiss or go to a movie or whatever because it’s f---ed up to want to do that with a kid regardless,” he says.

Yet arranging to meet a child is not against the law, said Craig Jones, a B.C. lawyer who has been following the Creep Catchers. Behind the chat, there must be proof of intent to kidnap or sexually abuse a child.

The wide, indiscriminate net cast by the Creep Catchers runs the risk of capturing innocent interactions, such as those between a child and a mentor, a parent, a music teacher or a coach, he said.

“It’s disturbing that a subgroup of people are so fixated on the idea of children as sexual objects that they can’t conceive of another purpose for an adult and a minor to have a conversation,” Jones said.

Dawson Raymond didn’t agree to an interview. The Red Deer Creep Catcher, Carl Young, has been convicted more than 25 times in his native New Brunswick, where there is a warrant for his arrest. He stands behind Raymond’s interpretation of the rules, and says he’ll keep trying to protect kids.

“If I had a 12-year-old boy and you asked him to come over and spend the night to watch a movie, is that right?” he said.

Young’s “catch” actually led police to arrest him: he now faces charges of harassment and mischief in Red Deer.

W5’s Creep Out will be broadcast Sat., Feb., 18 at 7 p.m. local time.