Who is your child really talking to online?
The NSPCC has warned of a sharp rise in internet grooming as children spend more time online than ever during lockdown...
❛ PARENTS HAVE TO SUPERVISE THEIR KIDS’ INTERNET ACTIVITY NOW MORE THAN EVER ❜
When Samira’s* phone pings with a new message, she knows what to expect.
It’s likely to be an explicit image or lewd message from a stranger online, hoping to persuade her into responding – even though she tells them she’s only 14.
Samira – who is really 23 – poses as a teenager online, using her own photo, as part of investigations to trace online predators hoping to groom young people. Her investigations have led to arrests by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) force.
And worryingly, she’s noticed a big rise in potential grooming cases over the past three months of isolation.
She says, “During lockdown, the number of messages and level of explicitness – from lewd comments and suggestions to unsolicited sexual pictures – has increased. The apps downloaded by young people during lockdown are a great vehicle to give online predators access to children.
“As soon as I start livestreaming in chat groups or social media platforms, men will send me messages telling me I’m pretty or that I have a nice body, or remark on the hot weather and ask if I’ve been to the beach in my bikini.
“Others are very blunt and immediately want to talk about sex and try to persuade me to do sexual things.
RISKS
“Some ask if they can meet in real life, after lockdown is over. It worries me that a real child would feel worn down by these requests and comply.”
Since 2017, when it became illegal to send sexual messages to children, there have been more than 10,119 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded by police in England and Wales – and the NSPCC describes the numbers as ‘accelerating’, with concerns this would increase even further in lockdown.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) also revealed that sick predators using online chat forums were “discussing opportunities to abuse children during the COVID-19 crisis” as early as April. And online safety website Internet Matters recorded a 30 per cent increase in visits to its online grooming support pages in the six weeks since lockdown was announced.
Criminologist and filmmaker Professor Roger Graef is working with the CEOP to raise awareness of online grooming.
He says, “When online predators heard about lockdown, they must have thought it was open season for grooming.
Many children are carrying out schoolwork online alone in their bedrooms or messaging over social media more than ever before, and their parents have no idea who they are communicating with.
“Parents are busy working from home and juggling everything, so might pay less attention than usual – but they have to supervise their kids’ internet activity now more than ever.”
Psychologist and Internet Matters ambassador Dr Linda Papadopoulos says it’s essential for parents to speak to children about their online presence during lockdown.
She says, “While social media and video platforms have provided a fantastic opportunity to stay in touch with friends, there are risks involved.
VULNERABLE
“We know that the more time a child spends online, the more likely they are to face risks, which can include everything from seeing inappropriate content to online grooming.
“Children who are bored are more likely to take part in aimless online activity, which can make them vulnerable. In general, abusers and groomers seek out the easiest targets and that, more than often, tends to be vulnerable children. That’s why it’s essential parents have discussions now, when their kids are spending more time
online and are feeling safe in the comfort of their own home.”
Sarah* was 13 when she met Tom*, in a teen chat room in 2005. She thought he was a similar age and they soon moved from the public forum to privately messaging each other.
Sarah says, “I was a lonely teenager and I would come home from school and go straight onto the computer.
“Fairly soon after we began talking privately, Tom asked for sexual images. I was worried he’d dump me, so I did what he said. Sometimes if I was hesitant, he would tell me sob stories, like he had a life-limiting illness. He rarely sent any of himself.”
Then in August 2015, a friend showed Sarah social media accounts that included her photographs, other photographs of a sexual nature, as well as her first name.
Tom had shared the photos with someone who had uploaded them to social media and pornography sites. She also found out he was actually 21 when they’d started talking
– six years older than he had claimed.
She says, “It was only then I realised I’d been groomed. I’d thought our relationship was genuine, but I wasn’t old enough to consent to what I was doing. I felt disgusted and betrayed.”
After contacting the police, Tom was charged with obtaining and sharing underage images, given a fine and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Sarah says, “There was no way of knowing just how many people had saved those images, or remove them permanently, and I have to live with that. It makes me worry for other young people today who are spending so much time online. It’s sickening to think things are getting worse, not better.”
By Alexandra Meyer