Online Grooming

Grooming is the sexual harassment of an adult person to a girl, a boy or a teenager through the internet. People who perform grooming are called groomers or stalkers.

Here an example of what grooming is. Check the following video.

How does the stalker act?

1. The stalker usually creates a false profile on social networks, applications, multiplayer video games or other social media.
2. Acts as a young person in order to build confidence and have a friendly relationship with children or adolescents.
3. The stalker then asks the victim for photos or videos of sexual content.
4. When he succeeds, he blackmails and threatens the child or adolescent with making this material public if he does not send new photos or videos or if he does not agree to a personal meeting. The position of power in which the stalker finds himself is reinforced by his adulthood and by the shame the child or adolescent feels upon discovering that he has been exposed to an older person who can make private material public.
5. If the stalker has built a trusting relationship, children or adolescents may agree to a face-to-face encounter.
6. On other occasions, the stalker obtains sexual photos or videos of the victim without prior contact, by stealing passwords, hacking devices or accounts. Subsequently, the blackmail period begins.

How to prevent grooming?

• Do not forbid: Children or teenagers to have virtual friends. Give them tools to recognize their friends, but also to be safe.

• Explain the risks: Beyond the trust and friendship that has been generated, the unknown people with those who relate through the Internet are still unknown. Explain that it is very easy to open a profile with false data.

• Do not share images without permission: Do not provide compromising information or images electronically because it is difficult to delete material circulating on the Internet.

• Do not make video conferences with strangers: It is necessary for children and adolescents to understand that their image is personal data that must be protected and cared for.

• Know the pages your children frequently visit: Know the privacy policies, rules and characteristics of each site.

• Set an example: Adults should use their social networks responsibly. Set privacy settings and avoid sharing photos of your children in their school uniforms or information that allows the neighborhood or address to be known publicly.