Record High in Online Grooming Crimes Reveals Youngest Victim Aged Four
Disturbing new statistics have exposed a dramatic surge in online grooming offences across the UK, with police records revealing a four-year-old boy among the victims. The NSPCC has described the findings as "deeply alarming" after obtaining data showing these crimes have nearly doubled over the past eight years.
Alarming Statistics Show Widespread Problem
According to figures obtained through freedom of information requests, police forces recorded 7,263 online grooming offences in the year to March. This represents a shocking increase from the 3,728 cases recorded in the year to March 2018, demonstrating a clear escalation of the problem.
The data, collected from all police forces except Lincolnshire, identified specific technology platforms in 2,111 of the recorded offences from the past year. The analysis revealed that approximately 40% of these crimes occurred on Snapchat, while 9% took place on WhatsApp and another 9% on Facebook and Instagram combined.
While girls constituted 80% of victims in cases where gender was recorded, the charity highlighted that the youngest victim was a four-year-old boy. The NSPCC has chosen not to disclose the specific communication method used to groom the young boy or which police force recorded the crime, citing concerns about potentially identifying the child.
Tech Platforms Under Scrutiny
Matthew Sowemimo, the NSPCC's associate head of child safety online, addressed the high proportion of offences occurring on Snapchat, noting that nearly three-quarters of British children use the platform. He specifically raised concerns about features like 'quick add' that enable adults to reach out to large numbers of child users easily.
The charity's new research has identified concerning patterns of behaviour among perpetrators, including creating multiple fake profiles and manipulating young users to interact across various platforms. Each offence logged by police could involve multiple victims and various communication methods, suggesting the true scale of the problem might be even greater than official figures indicate.
Calls for Immediate Action
NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood expressed grave concern, stating: "It's deeply alarming that online grooming crimes have reached a record high across the UK, taking place on the very platforms children use every day." He emphasised that the trauma of grooming can leave children battling anxiety, depression and shame for years after the abuse ends.
The charity is urging technology companies to implement stronger protective measures, including analysing metadata to identify suspicious behaviour patterns without reading private messages. They recommend restricting adult profiles by limiting who they can search and how many people they can contact.
Additional proposals include implementing tools on children's phones to scan for nude images and identify child sexual abuse material before it's shared. The NSPCC stresses that these measures could flag instances where adults repeatedly contact large numbers of children or create fake profiles - both strong indicators of grooming activity.
Kerry Smith, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, supported these calls, stating that the internet has "opened a door into millions of homes, giving predators access to children" with very real consequences. She emphasised that tech companies must do everything possible to keep children safe, even in end-to-end encrypted spaces.
Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for child protection, acknowledged that while police forces are working tirelessly to investigate these crimes, policing alone cannot stem the tide of online abuse. She called for technology companies to take responsibility for children's safety on their platforms, stating that safety must be embedded into platform design from the outset rather than treated as an afterthought.
A Snapchat spokesperson responded that they work closely with police, safety experts and NGOs to prevent, identify and remove this activity from their platform. They highlighted existing safety measures including blocking teens from search results unless they have multiple mutual connections and requiring mutual friendship or existing phone contacts before direct communication can occur.
The offence of sexual communication with a child was introduced in England and Wales in April 2017 to specifically tackle groomers targeting under-16s through mobile phones and social media. Northern Ireland has recorded the offence since 2015, while Scotland introduced similar legislation in 2010.
