The Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has outlined common grooming tactics used by child sex predators.
Commander of the ACCCE, Hilda Sirec said the aim was to highlight to parents and carers how quickly children could be coerced into producing sexual content.
CDR Sirec said the ACCCE had constructed conversations based on real interactions recorded and disrupted by investigators.
She said that, in some conversations, predators had managed to coerce a victim into getting naked in front of a camera following just a few messages after initial contact.
CDR Sirec said that as children returned to school, the AFP was releasing material and information to encourage parents to get to know who their children were communicating with online.
“The most common tactics predators exploit to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims are fear, preying on insecurities, feigning common interests, in-game chats and bribes, flattery and fake modelling offers,” she said.
“Child sex predators are highly skilled at adopting fake identities and personas online.”
CDR Sirec said it was frightening how quickly predators had been able to coerce a child victim into removing their clothes or self-producing child abuse material.
“We want all parents and carers to be aware that this is happening on social media and gaming platforms, and how to take steps to protect their children,” she said.
“As the constructed conversations show, predators seek to exploit the smallest opening from a victim to instil in them the fear that their behaviour, even if it’s relatively benign, will get exposed to their family and friends.”
She said the released example showed it could take just three messages from an offender before a victim could be willing to provide intimate photos.
“Now is the perfect time for parents to start a conversation about online safety and help their children protect themselves,” Commander Sirec said.
