By James Pero For Dailymail.com
Published: 23:52 BST, 7 May 2019 | Updated: 23:57 BST, 7 May 2019
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Following warnings from the FTC, both Apple and Google have removed several dating apps from their platforms that they say allowed children to join.
According to a letter sent by the FTC to Ukraine-based Wildec LLC, which owns FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U, the trio of dating apps allowed children as young as 12 to participate in the service and communicate with adults.
In an FTC investigation of the app, the organization says they were also able to identify and confirm multiple children within the service using a built-in age filter that allows users to search by age.
A trio of dating apps was removed by Google and Apple for allowing children under 13-years-old to participate. The FTC says the apps have already been used by sexual predators. Stock image
In some instances, Wildec's dating apps were used by potential predators to find victims.
In March, a man from Henrietta, New York was arrested for using Fastmeet to convene with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl -- the person on the other end was actually an undercover police officer.
The FTC warned parents whose children my be exposed to the app in a recent public advisory.
'Parents be warned: some dating apps – like FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U – allow adults to find and communicate with children,' said a parental warning issued by the FTC.
'Concerned parents should remove these apps if they’re on children’s devices. You also can set your kids’ devices so they must get parental approval before purchasing any new apps.'
In addition to allowing predatory adults to communicate with children, the FTC said the apps were also harvesting information on the underage users.
Among the fields collected by the apps were dates of birth, photographs, emails, and even real-time location data.
The collection of data for children under 12-years-old is a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires children under 13-years-old to have parental consent before doing so.
According to the FTC, Wildec is liable for children using its apps since participants were able to freely input their age with no repercussions.
'While the three apps claimed in their privacy policies to prohibit users under the
