Dad Catches A Group Of Men Filming His Son In Public, Finds Photos Of Other Kids As Well
A Facebook post detailing the incident has gone viral.
By Samantha Khor — 31 Oct 2017, 04:13 PM
Parents, be aware of your surroundings in addition to looking out for your child when you're in public.
That's the advice Facebook user Al Irfan Jani has for parents after he recently caught a group of foreign men filming his son at the indoor playground of a supermarket.
In a Facebook post that has gone viral, Al Irfan recalled that he and his wife were watching his son playing in a ball pit when he became suspicious of a group of four men looking at their smartphones and laughing among themselves
Though he did not suspect anything at first, it eventually dawned on him that the men were recording his son playing in the ball pit when he noticed the way the phone was held up.
He quickly and calmly told his wife to pick up their son, as he did not want to spook the men into thinking he was onto them. However, one of them soon noticed that his son was no longer in the ball pit and urged his friends to leave.
Though he did not want to make a scene, Al Irfan wanted to confront the men over their actions. He chased after them, yelling for them to stop, and managed to corner them near the electronics section of the supermarket.
In what he described as an unusual display of courage, as all four men were much bigger that he is, Al Irfan demanded they show him their "red ICs" or Temporary Employment Visitor's Pass, typically issued to foreign workers.
Though all four men initially "pretended they did not understand Malay", three of them eventually showed him their identification cards when one of them seemed to have gotten the hint. Al Irfan snapped photos of all three "red ICs" and took a photo of the one guy who did not bring his passport nor identification card.
Then, he demanded to see all of their phones. Al Irfan picked up the only smartphone in the lot and started scrolling through the collection of photos of videos.
To his utter shock, he found scores of photos and videos featuring various children in the phone. He also noticed that most of the videos looked like they were sneakily recorded - some featured kids in the playground, some kids in trolleys while their mothers were picking products off the shelves.
"Does the mother not realise that this 'crocodile' was filming her child while she was shopping?" Al Irfan questioned.
In front of their eyes, Al Irfan deleted each and every file containing children while recording himself doing so as evidence. However, he couldn't find those of his son in that particular phone.
Blood boiling, Al Irfan demanded that they bring out the other phone, as he "saw two smartphones just now".
"Take out the other one, or none of you are allowed to leave!" he quoted himself as saying during the confrontation.
Warily, one of them reached into his pocket and produced another smartphone. Al Irfan's suspicions were confirmed - the man had made three recordings of Al Irfan's son playing in the ball pit.
"Sorry, boss... sorry... we didn't know you cannot (take pictures) of children here."
Al Irfan wrote that he cursed internally when one of them gave that excuse.
"Not just here, everywhere else in the world! Wherever you go, do not take videos or photos of other people's children!" he chided the men, adding that he sent them away after the confrontation and will be leaving the matter to the police.
Following the incident, Al Irfan urged parents to not be ignorant of their surroundings when they are in a public setting with their kids
"While I was watching the four men recording children in the playground, I realised that there were parents who let their kids play on while they were focused on their phones.
Some only focused on their kids and neglected to pay attention to the world around them. Did you not realise that a group of foreign men were filming your child? Some parents also seemed to realised that they were recording but did not seem suspicious nor take action against it," he wrote.
"Next time, you have to be alert. Please forward my word of advice to your friends and family."
You can read Al Irfan Jani's full post, which has been shared over 15,000 times on Facebook, here.