The NSPCC has today revealed that sex offenders are grooming more children on Instagram more than any other online platform. In 32% of the recorded police incidents, Instagram was used to send sexual communication. It was closely followed by Facebook, which was used in 23% of the tim.
Some 1,944 incidents were recorded in just 6 months, recorded following Freedom of Information requests to police forces throughout England and Wales. The NSPCC has issued this safety video to help your child stay safe online…
Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat together made up 70% of the sexual communication cases with a child. This is the 6 months where the method had been recorded by police.
As mentioned in my earlier story, there’s plenty of places on the internet, in your smartphone and within apps, where older men pretend to be young girls or boys – luring kids into revealing private information or worse.
It’s all too easy to lie. It’s all too easy to cheat age restrictions and it’s frighteningly easy for anyone, anyone at all, to be in touch with your kids without you knowing.
Don’t rely on filtering. Don’t rely on firewalls. Don’t rely on anyone else.
Get more information in this BBC story or head to the NSPCC website for more information.