EDITOR’S NOTE — Across the nation, children and teens are plagued by a host of escalating tragedies. In this series, we look at several issues facing America’s endangered youth and offer ways you and your church can help care for the next generation. To see more stories in this series, click here.
It’s a scary reality for parents that is becoming more and more common in today’s society.
An estimated 500,000 online predators actively scan the internet each day to lure and exploit children sexually. According to the F.B.I., more than half of the children targeted are between the ages of 12 and 15. About 90 percent of the predators’ sexual advances are directed at children in internet chatrooms or through instant messaging.
How sexual predators work
Online predators visit social media websites to contact unsuspecting children. By using fake profile photos, pretending to share the same interests, offering gifts and jobs, providing a listening ear or complimenting the child, they try to earn the innocent child’s trust. In these ways, they groom the youngster into a relationship and then steer the conversations toward sex.
Often the predator will ask the child to make explicit photos or videos of himself or herself and send the images to him. He may also pressure the child to meet him in person. In some cases, the predator will blackmail the child, threatening to release and share the explicit photos with the child’s family — a crime called sextortion.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one out of seven children will receive unwanted sexual solicitations on the internet by online predators. One in 25 children will be manipulated or p ..
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