what is online grooming?
❓What Is Online Grooming?
Not everyone online is who they say they are, and this can be a difficult concept for some children to understand.
Online grooming is where someone befriends a child online and builds up their trust to exploit them and cause them harm. They usually operate on social media platforms, gaming sites, chat apps, and forums where young people are active.
Grooming can be a slow, calculated process. The groomer may initially seem kind and attentive, offering compliments, gifts, or emotional support to form a bond. Once trust is established, they may gradually introduce inappropriate topics or requests, such as sending explicit images or meeting in person.
⚠️ Signs of Grooming
Building relationships with people online or in other parts of your life is natural, grooming is when someone uses those relationships to trick, force or manipulate someone into doing something sexual or illegal.
Grooming can involve:
🚨Asking you to keep things secret
This could include being told not to tell anyone, that it’s special between you two or that other people won’t understand. You might be asked to keep it secret to show you trust them.
🚨Trying to find out things about you
Someone might ask you which room you’re in and whether anyone else can see your device. This is to stop anyone who might want to help you from finding out.
🚨Sending you sexual messages or images
This might be small at first, like asking you whether you’ve ever kissed anyone or saying how much they like your body. Someone might share images with you and ask you to share them back.
🚨Giving you gifts or compliments
Giving gifts or making you feel good can be a way to make you feel like you owe them and can make it harder to resist when they ask you to do something sexual or illegal.
🚨Making you feel isolated
Saying that you can’t trust other people or stopping you from telling anyone else can make it harder for you to get support. People do this because they know other people will help you.
🚨Threatening you
If someone’s gotten you to share something about yourself or do something, sometimes they might threaten to tell other people about what’s happened. It’s important to remember that this is abusive, and it’s never okay.
🚨Things are too good to be true
People who groom others will try to meet their needs as a way to get what they want. Even if someone’s making you feel good at times, it’s important to get support if they’re asking you to do something sexual or illegal.
💡What are the different grooming techniques used by online predators?Online predators will use a variety of different techniques to target and manipulate children and young people depending on the platform they’re using and the age group they’re interacting with. Common techniques include the predator pretending to be another young person, pretending to share the same interest as a child, complimenting the child to make them feel special, and even sending them gifts to gain their favour.
🔴What are the signs of online grooming?
Here are some of the most common online grooming warning signs.
📱Most Popular Platforms for Online Grooming
Snapchat — popular for its disappearing messages, making it easier to hide conversations.
Instagram — widely used by teens; groomers exploit its messaging and live features.
TikTok — rapid growth among younger users; direct messaging can be exploited
Roblox and Fortnite — both have chat features where predators may contact children.
Minecraft — especially servers with open chats.
WhatsApp — encrypted messaging, common for private conversations.
Discord — used widely for gaming and social groups; private servers can facilitate grooming.
Monkey — used for direct video and messaging video contact
⚖️ Is online grooming illegal?
Grooming in any form is an illegal offence. When grooming involves children, whether the behaviour takes place online or not, the Sexual Offences Act (2003) makes it illegal for an adult to communicate with a person under sixteen for a sexual purpose.
Not everyone online is who they say they are, and this can be a difficult concept for some children to understand.
Online grooming is where someone befriends a child online and builds up their trust to exploit them and cause them harm. They usually operate on social media platforms, gaming sites, chat apps, and forums where young people are active.
Grooming can be a slow, calculated process. The groomer may initially seem kind and attentive, offering compliments, gifts, or emotional support to form a bond. Once trust is established, they may gradually introduce inappropriate topics or requests, such as sending explicit images or meeting in person.
⚠️ Signs of Grooming
Building relationships with people online or in other parts of your life is natural, grooming is when someone uses those relationships to trick, force or manipulate someone into doing something sexual or illegal.
Grooming can involve:
🚨Asking you to keep things secret
This could include being told not to tell anyone, that it’s special between you two or that other people won’t understand. You might be asked to keep it secret to show you trust them.
🚨Trying to find out things about you
Someone might ask you which room you’re in and whether anyone else can see your device. This is to stop anyone who might want to help you from finding out.
🚨Sending you sexual messages or images
This might be small at first, like asking you whether you’ve ever kissed anyone or saying how much they like your body. Someone might share images with you and ask you to share them back.
🚨Giving you gifts or compliments
Giving gifts or making you feel good can be a way to make you feel like you owe them and can make it harder to resist when they ask you to do something sexual or illegal.
🚨Making you feel isolated
Saying that you can’t trust other people or stopping you from telling anyone else can make it harder for you to get support. People do this because they know other people will help you.
🚨Threatening you
If someone’s gotten you to share something about yourself or do something, sometimes they might threaten to tell other people about what’s happened. It’s important to remember that this is abusive, and it’s never okay.
🚨Things are too good to be true
People who groom others will try to meet their needs as a way to get what they want. Even if someone’s making you feel good at times, it’s important to get support if they’re asking you to do something sexual or illegal.
💡What are the different grooming techniques used by online predators?Online predators will use a variety of different techniques to target and manipulate children and young people depending on the platform they’re using and the age group they’re interacting with. Common techniques include the predator pretending to be another young person, pretending to share the same interest as a child, complimenting the child to make them feel special, and even sending them gifts to gain their favour.
🔴What are the signs of online grooming?
Here are some of the most common online grooming warning signs.
- Acting secretive about how they’re spending their time and who they’re spending it with
- Spending more time than usual on their phone or electronic device
- Acting more withdrawn or defensive when asked about their behaviour
- Spending increasing amounts of time out of the house without explanation
- Seeming unusually upset, withdrawn and depressed
- Having more money than usual or acquiring gifts that they can’t explain
- Suddenly starting drinking or taking drugs
- Acting in a sexualised way, using sexual language or engaging in sexual activity that seems unsuitable for their age
📱Most Popular Platforms for Online Grooming
Snapchat — popular for its disappearing messages, making it easier to hide conversations.
Instagram — widely used by teens; groomers exploit its messaging and live features.
TikTok — rapid growth among younger users; direct messaging can be exploited
Roblox and Fortnite — both have chat features where predators may contact children.
Minecraft — especially servers with open chats.
WhatsApp — encrypted messaging, common for private conversations.
Discord — used widely for gaming and social groups; private servers can facilitate grooming.
Monkey — used for direct video and messaging video contact
⚖️ Is online grooming illegal?
Grooming in any form is an illegal offence. When grooming involves children, whether the behaviour takes place online or not, the Sexual Offences Act (2003) makes it illegal for an adult to communicate with a person under sixteen for a sexual purpose.
