Children face growing risks of grooming, manipulation and sextortion in online spaces as predators use coercion tactics and emerging tools like generative AI. In 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) logged more than 546,000 reports of online enticement, a 192% increase compared to 2023.
Online grooming has evolved beyond chat rooms and now predators exploit social media, gaming platforms and encrypted apps to target children.
The NCMEC warns parents that online predators are now using generative AI to manipulate children by presenting fake images that appear realistic, creating false online personas to communicate with them. In 2024, the group's CyberTipline saw a 1,325% increase in reports involving generative AI — from 4,700 in 2023 to 67,000 in 2024.
Sextortion, which involves an offender attempting to coerce sexual content or activity from a child by blackmailing them, is also rising. In many of these cases, boys are being targeted by offenders at a higher rate. In 2024, NCMEC received nearly 100 reports of financial sextortion a day. Since 2021, at least 36 teenage boys have taken their lives as a result of financial sextortion.
This school year, districts required students in grades 6-12 to watch anti-grooming educational videos within the first days of school returning. A spokesperson for Cabarrus County Schools considered the proactive steps to be “far more effective than relying on children to protect themselves from sexual abuse.”
We hear from a survivor of online grooming, along with law enforcement and a prosecutor, about the reality of online grooming, how predators operate and the impact on victims. We’ll also explore what parents and caregivers can do to keep children safe in an increasingly digital world.
GUESTS:
Harrison Haynes, online grooming survivor, chairperson of the End OSEAC Survivors Council and student at James Madison University
Kevin Roughton, special agent in charge at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
Ashlie Shanley, district attorney for Cabarrus County
Immediately report suspected online enticement or exploitation of a child by alerting law enforcement or filing a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org.
