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Child Predators

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An online child predator is someone that utilizes online social media, gaming sites, or other forms of communication via the internet to contact young children and adolescents with the intent to abuse or exploit, typically in a sexual nature. The potential harm can eventually be caused online or offline – it often involves the predator wanting explicit online content or in person-interactions (What Is a Online Child Predator?, n.d.).

Statistics 

  • There are around 500,000 online predators active in a day (Children and Grooming / Online Predators | Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center, n.d.).

  • 89 percent of sexual advances towards children happen in chatrooms or through messaging (Children and Grooming / Online Predators | Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center, n.d.).

  • There are around 29 million reports of child sexual exploitation received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children per year - that equates to around 564,461 reports each week (Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Darkness to Light, n.d.).

  • 1 in 5 children experience online exposure to sexually explicit content without consent (Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Darkness to Light, n.d.).

Where can Predatory Behavior Happen?

Social media:

  • E.g. Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, WhatsApp, online chat rooms, etc.

  • Predators can use either fake or real accounts.

  • They can leave comments on posts or directly message in chats.

Online games:

  • E.g. Roblox, Minecraft, Among Us.

  • Predators can initiate contact via written, verbal, or video means before or during the game.

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(“15 Apps Parents Should Know,” n.d.; Child Predators on Video Games | Keep Gaming Safe for Kids, n.d.)

Signs of Inappropriate or Harmful Behavior

  • Predators looking for victims often visit social media platforms that are popular with younger people (see the “Where can predatory behavior happen?” section above).

  • Predators will pretend to be the child or adolescent’s age and will attempt to secure their trust with fake profiles, pretending to share similar interests, offering gifts to the victim, or complimenting the victim.

  • Predators may initially try to find out more information about the child and can ask personal questions or ask them to divulge secrets.

  • After an online relationship has been formed between the victim and predator, the predator will often steer the conversation towards sex or sexual content.

  • The predator may request and/or send explicit content to the victim. This explicit content can be partial or fully nude explicit images of the child predator or another child. In some extreme cases, the predator may pressure the victim to meet in person, where physical sexual abuse can occur.

  • Predators, in an attempt to strengthen their control over the victim, can start to take up more and more time chatting with the victim and may demonstrate a willingness to listen at any hour of the day or night.

  • Predators can threaten to share explicit images of the children with parents or friends in order to force the child to provide more images and videos. This is known as sextortion – it is illegal.

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(5 Red Flags and 5 Tips to Protect Your Child Online | RAINN, n.d.; “How Do Predators Find Children Online?,” n.d.)

Text Examples

Why don’t we talk privately, in a different app?

What’s on your mind? You seem upset – anything you want to talk about?

Do your parents check your phone or read your conversations?

Can we meet? Where?

Are you a model? You could be, and I can help you with that. 

Practical Guidance

Personal privacy:

  • Pay attention to what information you are sharing with people you do not know personally. Do not share personal information, photos, or videos in public chats or with people you do not know in real life (Criminal Division | Keeping Children Safe Online, 2024).

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Digital footprint:

  • Understand that data and photo contents that are shared with others on the internet are permanent.

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Location privacy:

  • Turn off location services and do not share the address of where you live or go to school.

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App privacy:

  • Audience selectors (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

    • Make your social media accounts private and only allow those you know to follow you

    • Only post to friend groups or close friends, not publicly or to people that you do not know personally.

    • Block people or accounts that seem suspicious and unfamiliar.

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Do not use unknown or different platforms:

  • Do not leave a game to chat with someone you do not know on a different platform (Take Action | Homeland Security, n.d.).

What to do if you Find yourself in a Dangerous Situation with a Child Predator  

  • Tell an adult you trust or contact law enforcement.

    • It is illegal for an adult to send or obtain sexually explicit content to/from a minor.

    • DO NOT delete any messages, images or videos sent between you and the predator.

    • Save as much information as you can such as usernames, screenshots, and images or videos. This information is evidence for law enforcement to collect directly from your device.

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(Take Action | Homeland Security, n.d.)

Sources

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