What I can tell you from an investigative perspective is that is an undercover technique that is used on a daily basis. There are online undercover police officers posing as fictitious eight-, nine-, ten-, eleven-year-old girls and boys on a daily basis, trying to trap and lure those like-minded individuals who are in certain areas trying to lure these children--whether it be an undercover police officer or a child on the outside--into committing sexual offences with them.
What I can tell you is that there is absolutely no question, no question whatsoever, that the person on the other end, the unknown person who is chatting with the undercover police officer, knows the age and sex of this individual.