Woman says adult man got her child to disable location-tracking app while she was away. Her horrifying discovery doesn’t end there: ‘Hard to get through’

A harrowing story shared by a mother on TikTok under the handle @williams_partyof_7 has recently gained traction online, with many parents in the comments calling it a “wake-up call.” In the video, Shaveaz Williams alleged that her child had been secretly groomed online for two weeks and had met an adult man twice in person before the parents intervened.

Williams began her storytime with a warning: “This is going to be hard to get through.” As she explained what she says happened, it quickly became clear that the admission was meant for her viewers as much as it was for herself.

According to Williams’ account, the crisis unfolded over a weekend while the parents were away on a trip and their children were under the supervision of their oldest brother, a college student. The child initially asked for permission to go to the movies with a friend. But the family had a strict rule requiring the parents to meet any friend and their family before allowing a get-together, so the mother denied the request.

Her child allegedly got the tracking app disabled

Williams alleged that an adult man got around that restriction by convincing the child to meet at a neighborhood park just 60 seconds from the family home. She said she had no idea the first meeting had taken place.

The following day, according to Williams, things escalated. The oldest sibling called her to report that the child had been gone for an extended period after saying they were going back to the park.

Williams said she immediately activated a location-tracking app on the child’s phone. She claimed that she watched a digital dot move rapidly across the map, indicating that the child was inside a fast-moving vehicle on the other side of town.

When Williams called, she alleged that her child manually disabled the tracking and repeatedly gave false accounts of where they were, claiming to be at a local store or hanging out with a classmate. The sibling reportedly rushed to the park, but Williams said the adult man had already dropped the child off. She adds her child then deleted some of the recent messaging history before handing over the phone.

Williams said she then spent about two hours going through the device, piecing together what she described as the digital clues that remained. According to her account, the child eventually confessed to what Williams described as a two-week grooming process and two in-person meetings.

The story prompted an outpouring of advice and concern in the comments.

“I always say the internet is not for kids, on either side of the camera,” one user wrote.

Another commenter praised Williams for consistently referring to the person involved as a child. “I appreciate you calling her a child the whole time. That is so important,” they wrote.

A third user advised parents to keep children away from communication apps, monitor their accounts and make sure their ages are accurately listed so parental controls can be used.

The warning was timely

Williams specifically warned parents about the messaging app Session, saying she believes its privacy features can make it attractive to people looking to communicate anonymously. Session does not require a phone number or email address to create an account and uses onion routing as part of its privacy-focused network.

Her warning comes as parents continue to grapple with the difficulty of keeping track of who their children are communicating with online.

If you believe a child has been targeted or contacted by an online predator, you can report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678 or contact local law enforcement.