Online predators almost never show their real face. Instead, they build a convincing fake identity — a friendly same-age peer, a thoughtful listener, sometimes even a crush — designed to earn a young person’s trust. It’s called catfishing, and it’s one of the most common ways someone is lured into an online relationship without ever …
Sextortion is one of the fastest-growing crimes against children, and it rarely starts with a threat. It starts with a friendly message. A stranger compliments a teen’s photo, claims to be the same age, and asks to move the chat to a private app. Minutes later, the conversation turns into a demand for money or …
Online predators rarely strike fast. They build trust slowly, over weeks or even months. That is exactly what makes grooming so dangerous. A child who seems happy to chat with a “new online friend” may not realize they are being steered into something harmful. Our Rescue, a nonprofit that helps law enforcement rescue trafficking victims, …
New data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) shows financial sextortion is surging. In 2025, NCMEC received more than 50,000 reports of financially motivated sextortion — an average of 137 per day. That is up sharply from roughly 36,000 reports in 2024. Sextortion happens when someone threatens to share intimate images …
The FBI issued a direct letter to parents this year about a trend it is watching closely: coordinated online predators who methodically target children on the messaging apps, social media sites, and gaming platforms kids use every day. The warning is not meant to frighten families, but to help them recognize the pattern early — …
Gaming and livestreaming apps have quietly become one of the most common places where online predators meet children. Unlike a stranger messaging a kid on a public platform, a gamer who “happens to be on the same server” feels safe and familiar. That familiarity is exactly what predators rely on. It works in stages. A …
Predators are no longer working alone. A growing number of online predator groups are recruiting and coercing children themselves, turning victims into the people who carry out the harm. Police in Durham Region, Canada, recently warned parents about one such network they call “The Com” — short for “The Community.” The group targets kids as …
Catfishing happens when someone builds a fake online identity to trick another person into trusting them. Too often, that someone is an adult predator and the target is a child or teenager. A fake profile is surprisingly easy to create. A predator can copy photos from a public account, borrow a real teen’s name and …
Online predators are changing how they operate. Instead of luring kids to meet in person, many now run a faster, crueler crime called sextortion. The FBI reports a large jump in cases where an adult tricks a young person into sending explicit images, and then threatens to share them unless the victim sends more pictures, …
It is easy to feel that the internet is crawling with predators. Headlines make it seem that way. But the research tells a more reassuring story — and it points parents toward actions that actually work. One study found that unwanted sexual solicitations of kids online dropped sharply over a decade. Most people who prey …