THE scale of sex crimes against children is much bigger than anybody imagined with apps like Snapchat enabling paedophiles to pinpoint the location of potential targets, according to a police boss.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones is horrified the popular photo messaging app has a mapping device which shows exactly where the child is unless the privacy settings are switched on.

Mr Jones was speaking after a visit to the Onyx team that was set up by North Wales Police in 2015 to combat child sexual exploitation in all its forms.

He called on parents to be more vigilant and to keep tabs on what their children were up to online, as well as ensuring their privacy settings were in “ghost” mode so that predatory perverts could not find out where they were.

The plea from the police commissioner comes on the heels of news that Chrissy Teigen, the host of hit TV show, Lip Sync Battle, has quit Snapchat.

Earlier this year £1 billion was wiped off Shapchat’s share price after American reality television personality Kylie Jenner tweeted to her 24.5 million followers she was abandoning the app.

According to Mr Jones, tackling child sexual exploitation is one of the main priorities in his Police and Crime Plan which sets out the overall strategy for policing North Wales.

The commissioner pledged to back the team with the resources it needs to protect children from being snared online.

He said: “There is nothing more important than keeping children safe and it is vitally important we educate children about the dangers lurking online and how to avoid them.

“At the same time, parents also need to be aware what their children and doing on social media and making sure privacy settings are always switched on.

“Social media companies also have a responsibility about how their apps are used, taking down any inappropriate images and closing down accounts.

“But the only way to stop this happening in the long run is to educate children and parents and not sharing images with people the don’t know.”

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News