Sexual predators who look for young victims online are older than most sex offenders, and they’re less likely to have criminal records, according to the FBI.

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“It’s a very challenging population and somewhat atypical of other criminal populations,” said FBI Profiler Jennifer Eakin.

Eakin spoke exclusively with kgw.com in an interview at the FBI’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

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She teaches the agents who pose as teens online what kind of sexual predator they’re likely going to deal with. Nailing down an exact profile of an internet sex offender is not easy, according to Eakin.

Keeping Kids Safe: Helpful info. on protecting your family from online predators

“Not all sex offenders are alike, and neither are online offenders,” Eakin said.

According to FBI statistics, the average sexual predator is 37 years old. Seventy percent of those arrested have not been charged with felonies before.

The average victim, according to the FBI, is in their young teens. But Eakin expects that to change soon.

“The age [of the victim] is going to go down because we have more and more kids for whom the internet is a natural part of their lives, and very much integrated in their daily lives,” said Eakin.

Eakin says online predators are also typically technologically savvy. That kind of sex offender, according to the FBI, has been around much longer than the internet.

"That dates back from the first Polaroid camera... to the video recorders, we know there's a certain population of preferential child sex offenders that may be adept at utilizing that new technology in furtherance of their interest."