One way of extracting information from children is to offer discounts and gifts. Up 75 % of children will divulge personal and family information in exchange for gifts. At any given time there are over 5,000,000 Internet Pedophiles online. A child has a 50% chance of engaging in conversation with a pedophile posing as a child in a chat room. Sadly only about 25% of children who encounter a sexual approach or solicitation will tell an adult or parent. At least 1 in 4 children are exposed to unwanted pornographic material online. With statistics of this magnitude it is obvious that a great deal of supervision and protection of the child is necessary. These statistics do not take Cyberbullying into consideration. Children love chat rooms but they must be taught that people are not always who they say they are and, if in doubt; they should rather cease the contact or ask for adult intervention.
No relationship, whether healthy or sick, legal or criminal can start without some preparation. Predators will groom children before attempting to meet with them. The grooming will continue until the victim feels loved enough to want to meet them in person. There are many ways for a predator to access information about a child which makes it a crucial part of a child's cyber 'education' to not put any vital information on their online profiles. Initial contact will appear innocent and friendly while the predator extracts information from the victim. The predator will interact on a wide range of subjects in which the victim is interested. They will talk about music trends, clothing, sports or any other hobby the child may enjoy. Grooming is the way sexual predators get from bad intentions to sexual exploitation. Grooming could be of short duration or take a long period of communicating. It is very dangerous for children to randomly chat to unknown people on the net. The predator will use flattery and subtle manipulation to gain a child's trust until the victim believes that no one can understand their situation better than the predator.
Remember: The ultimate goal of the “groomer” is to arrange an in-person meeting to engage in sexual relations with the child or teen!
Over time the predator, through listening to and sympathizing with a child's problems, will develop trust and ease inhibitions by introducing conversations alluding to sex. As this trust grows the predator will attempt to drive wedge between the child and parents and friends. This act of grooming will prey on a teen’s desire for romance, adventure and sexual information, ultimately developing a relationship that is both romantic and controlling, upon which the child becomes dependent. Teenage girls are the most targeted victims on the internet. Nearly 8 out of 10 targets for the predators are children older than 14 years. The age group 10 – 13 makes up the other 22%. It is a fact that children have a profile on internet and parents must accept that it is a way of life and remove the blinkers. Help the children to understand that there are real life dangers on the internet and teach them how to avoid some of the obscure traps used by predators. Chat rooms are the predator's favorite hide-out. They are very adept at speaking child language and sharing child experiences in a diminished mentality; therefore they can sign up as any other child and not be suspected. They will pick up on a child's vulnerability and, using that knowledge; can groom them for inappropriate behavior.
The astounding increase in the number of cyber-predators has given rise to parents having to become more vigilant about their children's activities on the internet and consequently, the need for computer software to track their activities. Software companies spend millions trying to protect online users from predators, hackers and scammers. Unfortunately they remain one step behind the intelligent and highly skilled cyber criminals. It is nonetheless a great advantage to have the latest tracking and blocking software on all computers used by children. According to the Oxford Dictionary a predator is defined as: "One that has a harmful influence on, plunders, or exploits, especially for one's own gain." Internet predators behave in this manner because they target children who are weaker emotionally, intellectually and physically and then exploit them for their own sexual gratification. Given that description, it is not unreasonable to want to protect children, especially since the internet is everywhere.
Predators seek children who have easy access to the web and spend lengthy periods, usually at the same time, online. Children who have instant message accounts or frequent chat rooms are the most vulnerable as the predator knows that instant messages are not saved and disappear into the ether. There are, however, software programmes which can record and save this activity on the computer. Parents should look at all preventative measure possible to protect their children. The most targeted are children from suburban and rural areas. They are generally easier targets due to their isolation, shelter lives and possible loneliness and naivety. Cyber predators will seek victims who will repeatedly return to speak to them, favoring those with web-cams or digital cameras. If a relationship lasts for any length of time the predator would even gift those accessories to their victims, using those gifts as leverage at a later stage. Predators are all the more emboldened if they find out a child is from a single parent family, having trouble at school or with the law, or has been experimenting with drugs, alcohol or sexual activity.
Social Networks are very popular venues for Internet predators as there is generally a very casual atmosphere. These sites are very easy to use, with little or no protocol or regard for etiquette, which makes them extremely popular. The very popularity of the social media site has made them the number one stopover for the devious and sick-minded predators and has made them an almost accepted 'fixture'.
Online predators are disguised in 3 different forms.
• Non-preferential predator has no particular age group in their sights. They also have no specific agenda but will take whatever they can from a child.
• Pedophiles like prepubescent children (10-13 years). These children are the most vulnerable to having information gleaned from them and, therefore, need the most supervision and protection.
• Preferential predators have a profile not unlike that of serial killers. Their target is 12-14 years and mainly girls. Their primary aim is to lure the child out of their home for a rendezvous, often by using blackmail with information gained from the child.
