Preventing grooming can’t be done through a single conversation, by telling kids “don’t”, or by just restricting access to technology.

Remember, grooming can look a lot like making a good friend—it might not be clear it’s happening for a long period of time, especially from a child’s perspective.

It’s important to know that a predator’s objective may be to meet your child face-to-face in order to exploit them.

However, some predators keep the relationship only online. They use different tactics to convince the child to engage in a sexual act, whether that be sharing sexual images or engaging in sexual activity on a video call.

Child sex predators can be someone familiar or a complete stranger. They may be male or female. They often disguise their identity and age behind fake online profiles.

They target any age, gender, and social or cultural background.

It may be difficult for children to understand that there are people using disguises online. An older man may pretend to be someone their age or someone that goes to a nearby school.

Even if a child knows they are communicating with an adult, the age gap may instill fear into the child to comply with the predator’s requests. Some predators start by enticing a child to share personal information, and then later use it against the child to coerce them into sexual activity.

If initial contact begins on a public comment or forum, a predator will likely to try to contact the child in a direct message next.

Part of the grooming process is isolating the child or teen in a private online space, and then slowly working to manipulate or force them into engaging in a sexual act.