Why chatroulette is dangerous

The platform operates by pairing people at random, and no details are given before using the service therefore it is completely anonymous — giving out only as much information as you choose to.

While paired with someone, each user gets the option to end the call whenever they please. If someone is behaving in an offensive nature while using Chatroulette, it is possible to report them to the platform. Once this button is selected, the call will immediately end.

And skip one another again. For some reason, the guy above didn't immediately skip me but instead started drawing a phallus on the screen with "9 inch" written next to it before he even said hello.

He said the reason that he was on Chatroulette was that he'd been blocked from a similar website for showing his penis, so now he just stuck to drawing it on the screen. He also claimed he was "looking for pussy," and since I didn't really have one on hand, this was another conversation that ended abruptly. The second person that didn't immediately skip me was Nabila from France.

Love those quotation marks around the word 'journalist,' I thought. I do often feel more like a "journalist" than a journalist—so maybe Nabila was my soulmate?

Nabila is actually an unemployed pharmacy assistant and too broke to travel, so she turned to Chatroulette for company and conversation. We played a game of tic-tac-toe with the drawing app, but that's as far as our friendship went. A little while later, I ended up in a Moroccan living room. A woman was walking back-and-forth between the kitchen and living room, carrying some pots and pans. But, there is a dark and dangerous side that you need to know about. Just a word of warning: some of the content that follows may be offensive.

Here's how the process works. Press play and you are instantly connected with a stranger. You can see each other live and even talk on an open mike. Young adults are often intrigued at the idea of meeting people from around the world or even celebrities.

The site says you must be 16 and wear clothes, but there's no registration and no way to verify a users age.

Cyber crimes detective, Ed Jones, warns predators are lurking - especially since they can remain anonymous. When we informed one of the men it was for a news story, he left. Others didn't seem to care, trying to get the reporter to join in. Now, when we put a male employee on, it was a completely different experience. The men did not stop at all. What is worse, he says, is that predators can also track down who they are chatting with.

When using Chatroulette, avoid sharing identifying information and do not engage in any behavior you wouldn't want your family to know about. While users under the age of 18 are not permitted per the rules of the site, that doesn't stop minors from using the service. Minors on Chatroulette can be exposed to nudity and abuse from predators. Age doesn't protect users from being outright nasty to each other as well -- while you might meet a nice stranger, you might also meet someone who has nothing better to do than treat you terribly.

You may also encounter users requesting you to engage in inappropriate behavior.