The Life of a Decoy
What it’s like to transform into a decoy, interact with perpetrators, and take care of your mental health through the process.
On YouTube · Season 5 · The Counting House
SOSA Undercover
Our docuseries — the continuation of Undercover Underage — follows our team as we work undercover operations with law enforcement to identify and arrest perpetrators who are abusing minors.
Public episodes are free; channel members get the full-length cuts. In the UK the series airs as Predator Files on Crime & Investigation.
About the series
Real operations, filmed as they happen.
Nothing in the series is staged for the camera. Every case is a live operation SOSA is running in partnership with a county ICAC task force and District Attorney's office, and the episodes follow that work in order — building the decoy account, the messages as they arrive, and the evidence being handed to the detectives who will carry the case to court.
What the series is not
SOSA is not a vigilante group. We do not "expose" suspects online, and we do not work any cases without law enforcement approval.
The filming follows the operation. It never drives it — nothing is done for an episode that would not be done anyway.
What people are saying
I’m 15 and have been groomed since I was 11. Your videos have given me the bravery to speak up. Without your channel, I would have stayed silent and thought my abuser loved me.
I teach middle school and learning how their technology can lead kids to these ACMs helps me understand how to explain cyber safety to my students at their level. [The show] is also helpful for me to recognize red flags in things my students may share with me about who they interact with online.
I found this channel yesterday. I’ve been a cop for 23 years and I can tell you that you ladies are doing phenomenal work that is saving lives.
Where it started
Undercover Underage
Undercover Underage is the series that introduced SOSA's work — two seasons following the team as we build teen decoy accounts, talk to the adults who contact them, work out who those adults really are, and hand what we find to law enforcement so arrests can be made.
It ran for two seasons on Investigation Discovery and streams on HBO Max. SOSA Undercover is the continuation of that series, made with the same producers and released on our own channel.
What people are saying
I’ve watched the show several times because something about it is very healing to my trauma from being a victim.
Your show was what made me realize that what happened was abuse and was not my fault and gave me the courage to tell my mom.
[Undercover Underage] terrified me but it opened a dialogue with my girls about this and I was shocked at what they told me.
Also on the channel
Longer case videos
Single cases followed further than an episode allows, from first contact through the arrest.
Highlights from previous cases
Shorter cuts pulled from earlier operations, including cases first shown on Undercover Underage.
Case updates
What happened after the arrests — charges, convictions and sentencings for perpetrators from earlier seasons.
Livestreams
The team answering viewers’ live questions and sharing behind-the-scenes info.
Watch the current season
Season 5: The Counting House is airing now. New episodes land on the channel as the operation unfolds.