PERVERTS are parking outside homes where there is no wifi security code to download child porn, gardaí in Cork have warned.

Gardaí have revealed an increase in child pornography investigations in Cork City in recent years.

There have been 26 investigations into child pornography launched so far this year, compared to 11 for the same period in 2017.

Identifying information left by offenders has led officers to swoop on homes in the city to seize computers, laptops, and phones.

However, in some cases, the seized equipment has never been used to access or download pornographic material.

A Garda source said: “In a number of cases, the focus is on a totally unsuspecting person who has open wifi and it is being used by someone who is pulling up outside their door.”

Gardaí are urging homeowners to make sure their wifi is security protected.

Meanwhile, a file is being prepared for the DPP in relation to an incident in the city in July in which a man was the target of a sting by a group calling itself Child Protection Awareness.

The man was confronted by a member of Child Protection Awareness, a group styling itself as “paedophile hunters”, in Bishoptown.

A female member of the group accused the man of making contact online with a person whom he believed to be an underage girl, with the intention of meeting her for a sexual encounter.

The group, working with a similar organisation in the UK, claimed to have set up a fake online profile of a 14-year-old girl. They engaged in a number of online conversations with the man, some of which the group claims were of a sexually-explicit nature.

The woman who confronted the man claimed to have a log of conversations with the fake profile. The 25-minute confrontation was filmed and shared online.

After confronting the man and demanding an explanation, gardaí were called to the scene and he was arrested.

The man was later released without charge and gardaí are now working on the file for the DPP.