After warning parents about smartschoolboy9 on social media, police in the UK have deleted the post and confirmed that an investigation isn’t taking place.
At the end of August, Nick Crowley released a mini-documentary on his YouTube channel exploring a particularly disturbing online rabbit hole: smartschoolboy9.
In short, Redditors discovered multiple Instagram profiles that appeared to be masquerading as children with heavily edited, warped, and even explicit imagery. Next, they found smartschoolboy9, an account (that’s since been taken down) run by an adult man who dresses in tight school uniforms. In one clip, he appeared to chase a real-life child.
With cybersleuths hunting for clues and trying to contact the man behind the account, as well as rumors of his past arrests, Greenwich MPS asked parents on X/Twitter to be aware of the alleged predator online.
“Parents, please be aware of ‘SMART SCHOOL BOY 9’ messages circulating on Snapchat. A male is pretending to be a child and engaging with kids on social media. An investigation is ongoing, but his intentions are unclear. Stay vigilant and talk to your children about online safety,” the original post read.
It has since been deleted. Amid speculation over why it was removed, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told Dexerto: “We are aware of the video being posted online.
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“As no crime has been committed in the content of the video we are not investigating anything at this time. We have reminded the local teams on the parameters of how we operate and what content should be posted online from our channels.”
While unconfirmed, many people believe David London is the man behind the smartschoolboy9 account, although this may be an alias (much like David Alter, an earlier suspected name).
In a statement to Dexerto, a spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “We can neither confirm nor deny the name of a person who may or may not be or have been the subject of a South Yorkshire Police investigation.”
Separating fact from fiction has been difficult over the past few weeks. Fake interviews with David London have been criticized, and smartschoolboy9’s voicemail appeared to leak on the case’s subreddit. However, following issues with harassment, the Reddit page has since been taken down.
Check out the smartschoolboy9 mask theory and tech experts’ warning to people trying to track him down. You can also check out our list of the creepiest YouTube documentaries and new true crime documentaries streaming this month.
