Grooming

It’s easy to pretend to be someone else on the internet, so you can sometimes end up having conversations with people whose real identities you may not know. The recent tragic case of Breck Bednar.has focused our minds on the fact that while the internet is a wonderful place for learning and socialising we do have to be careful.

Groomers may go to a social network used by young people and pretend to be one of them. They might attempt to gain trust by using fake profile pictures, pretending to have similar interests, offering gifts and saying nice things to you.

Once they have the your trust the groomer often steers the conversation towards their sexual experiences, even asking them to send sexual photographs or videos of themselves. Some may try to set up a meeting, or even blackmail you by threatening to share the pictures or videos with your family and friends.

Groomers will manipulate you and try to gain your trust. It is really important that if you are worried that someone is grooming you then follow the guidance here and if you wish to report concerns click here or use the RGS whisper service.

There is further advice for parents here and here