A barman created a false identity for himself as a schoolboy on Facebook so he could try to persuade teenage girls to send him sexy pictures.
Luke Beard set up a Facebook page under the bogus name of Jamie Farrell and posted a false picture to back up his claim to be a sixth former in Ilfracombe.
He used the Facebook identity to contact three 13-year-old girls living in North Devon and sent them sexualised messages asking them to send him "cheeky" pictures of themselves.
The 29-year-old was working as a barman in the town but has since moved away from the area after his ruse was discovered by a suspicious mother who checked her daughter's internet use.
Beard, of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, admitted three offences of inciting a child to make an indecent image.
He was ordered to take part in a sex offenders treatment programme as part of a three-year community order by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him: "You set up bogus accounts on Facebook and KIK and used them to trawl around to try to find 13-year-old girls.
"There is a very compelling argument that if you complete the sex offenders' treatment course it is likely your level of risk or re-offending with be reduced to minimal."
The Judge also imposed a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order which controls his contact with girls under 16 and allows the police to monitor his internet use.
Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said Beard was caught after the mother of a 13-year-old girl in North Devon spotted messages on her daughter's Facebook page asking for "cheeky" pictures.
They came from an account in the name of Jamie Farrell but this turned out to be an alias invented by Beard.
Officers found other traffic on his computers which indicated he had been in touch with at least two other 13-year-old and had sent one an obscene image.
Emily Pitts, defending, said Beard had never been in trouble before and had not actually been sent any indecent images by any of the girls.
She said: "None of the girls sent him photographs and there was no contact at all with them. They learned a lesson and will be able to avoid similar risks in the future."
