Online predators do not usually pretend to be kids when they approach our children online. Usually, they are honest about their age and their objective. This from a recent article in USA Today citing research in American Psychologist magazine (I can't access the full original article). This information is consistent with the demonstration of internet predation presented by the FBI at the Albany meeting I attended several months ago. Perves sit in adult-oriented chat rooms awaiting the inevitable arrival of kids looking for attention from adults. The kids may begin their online communications because of disarray in their home lives, lack of parental supervision or involvement or simply boredom. But during the demonstration I witnessed, the adults made it clear from the beginning that they were adults and that they were seeking sexual relationships with these "young girls" ( both virtual and physical sexual relationships).
And the research goes on to say that the kids who end up in these inappropriate relationships demonstrate their risk with other actions, such as talking to strangers about sex, not restricting their "friend" lists on social networking sites and "being rude or nasty".