KUALA LUMPUR: It started with a mysterious inclusion of his handphone number into what seemed to be a dormant online chat group.
Then, out of the blue, came the sudden burst of notifications.
What followed finally for the father-of-three was pure fear and disgust, when he realised his phone number had been added into a group that began to actively share child pornography.
The trauma remained with Mohd Fadhli Othman, a child safety advocate, to the point that he could no longer look at the letters "CP", which was the name of the paedophile group, without being reminded of the horrors of its contents.
Speaking to the New Straits Times, Fadhli recounted how the incident disrupted his life in 2017.
"I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that my number had been added to a WhatsApp group. I initially ignored it because it was empty.
"But later that day, I received a flood of spam messages in the group.
"The content wasn't just so-called 'light' videos, but some even contained gruesome footage of violence and injury," he said.
Unlike some group members who expressed excitement over the videos, Fadhli quickly hit the "exit" button and removed himself from the perversion.
Since then, his phone number has been repeatedly added to similar groups, with the last instance requiring him to remove himself about two years ago.
"I can't stand looking at the name CP, which is an abbreviation for child porn. I am traumatised from this experience," he said.
Fadhli, who has dedicated himself to advocating for the wellbeing of young people, particularly in reproductive education and child protection, said the spread of child pornographic content is rampant not only on one specific WhatsApp channel, but also across various platforms.
He stressed the need for the public, especially youngsters, to be educated in spotting potential sexual predators.
Parents, he added, also play a crucial role in teaching their children to protect themselves from such threats.
"As parents, we should never allow strangers to touch our children or invade their personal space.
"Young people must be educated about the signs of paedophilia and how to protect themselves," he said.
PART TWO TOMORROW: HOMEGROWN PORN ACTORS ON THE RISE