Child grooming and exploitation rises due to COVID-19 restrictions

Content warning: this article discusses sexual exploitation, domestic violence, child abuse, and drug trafficking.

We have likely all experienced it over the past two years: elevated rates of anxiety, stress, and fear. The impact of COVID-19 on our mental health has been enormous. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide were disrupted during the height of the pandemic. While people have been experiencing increasing levels of loneliness, depression, and isolation, there are simultaneously even more limited options for finding help.

In addition to mental health issues, months of lockdown and quarantining have also escalated domestic violence cases. In 2020, the United Kingdom police force recorded a 9% increase in domestic abuse-related crimes. During the same year, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline saw a 64% increase in calls. Not only has violence been on the rise, but pandemic-related restrictions have limited victims’ ability to safely seek refuge from their perpetrators.

Many will have read, or been on the receiving end of these rising numbers. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of women’s rights campaigners, there has been some coverage of the dangerous impact the pandemic has had on those affected by domestic violence. However, there has been little attention paid to the dangerous implications of social restrictions on young people. These restrictions have created an isolating and vulnerable environment for many; an environment that criminals can and will take advantage of. 

Grooming

The pandemic has created conditions in which young people are often experiencing isolation from one’s community and an unprecedented dependence on the internet—both of which can make children more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse through a process called grooming.  

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) defines grooming as a form of child abuse in which “someone builds a relationship, trust, and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit, and abuse them”. As the grooming process is based on forming a bond of trust, the young person might not immediately recognise that they are being taken advantage of. Once a young person is groomed (i.e. the groomer has gained their trust), the groomer will use their power to abuse them, for example through sexual or criminal exploitation. The victims have been manipulated in such a way that they believe it is either simply part of the relationship they have built with their abuser or that it is owed to them. 

Grooming and exploitation cases have inflated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recorded online grooming cases between March 2020 and April 2021 have increased by 70% compared to previous years. One cause of these increased rates is that the pandemic has weakened the daily structure for young people. Due to the restrictions they were no longer allowed to follow in-person classes, sports training and games were cancelled, and they could not meet up with their friends—all of which contribute to social isolation. Consequently, young people spent more time online and on multiple different social media platforms, trying to remain socially active, but also increasing their risk of online grooming. 

Perpetrators are taking advantage of pandemic restrictions; they use the boredom experienced by many young people as an entryway to manipulate and exploit them. The NSPCC reported that lonely young people are more likely to be groomed online as they are willing to take more risks to be social. This could result in online communication with strangers, even though they are aware of the ‘stranger danger’. Predators take advantage of this by either creating fake profiles or posing as a mentor, gaining their trust in order to sexually or criminally exploit them.

Additionally, young people have lost a big part of their support system due to COVID-19 restrictions. Online classes have led to limited face-to-face interactions with their teachers and classmates, contact with their team mates or friends has been restricted, and their unsupervised internet time has increased. Due to limited in-person contact, it has been much harder to recognise the signs of exploitation and thus help those who need it. 

In an article published in 2021, Sammy Witness discusses how COVID-19 created the “perfect storm for child grooming”. The pandemic has led to much more than mental health issues—it has created a loophole for abusers to capitalise on young people. Lack of structure, overall boredom, and the loss of a support system are some of the factors that criminals have taken advantage of in order to groom and exploit vulnerable young people both online and offline. 

Sexual exploitation

One of the outcomes of online grooming can be child sexual exploitation. Groomers will try to befriend young people by forming a bond of trust with the victim, which is often a stepping stone to sexual abuse. They establish an emotional connection with the young person by “filling their needs”, giving them attention, support, or sending them gifts. While chatting to the young person, the groomers slowly start to sexualise the conversations. This can start with sexual education or talking about relationships. Additionally, they will try to isolate the young person, making them think they are the only person who really cares about them. Once a young person has been groomed (i.e. they believe the groomer is their friend or significant other), the abuser will start to push boundaries. They will desensitise sex throughout the conversations and eventually start asking the victim to send sexual images or perform sexual acts while video-chatting. The obtained child sexual abuse material can later be used to blackmail the victim to send more images or even meet in person to further exploit the victim.

Criminal exploitation

In-person grooming can also result in sexual exploitation, but often leads to child criminal exploitation (CCE). The NSPCC defines criminal exploitation as “a form of child abuse where young people are manipulated and coerced into committing crimes”. Groomers adapt their tactics to match the specific vulnerabilities they discern in the young person. Young people might have problems at home, live in poverty, or have developed a drug problem—all factors that have increased as a direct or indirect consequence of the pandemic. By forming a ‘friendship’ with these young people, the groomers offer to give them what they need—protection, money, drugs, etcetera. Groomers ensure that the victims become dependent on them. However, in return for these things they expect something back. 

CCE has repeatedly been linked to a criminal drug supply model known as ‘County Lines’. In a paper published at the end of 2021, Brewster et al. define County Lines as the “migration of illegal drugs from urban to rural and coastal areas”. Before the pandemic, criminals would groom their victims by giving them “free” drugs or money, while in fact acquiring a drug-debt. In order to get rid of this debt, victims had to contribute to the County Lines. 

The pandemic forced criminals to adapt their grooming methods, which unfortunately led to an increase in victims. Instead of finding victims outdoors and through face-to-face interactions, perpetrators changed to virtual grooming techniques, targeting people in their homes. Such grooming follows a similar principle, where a criminal will provide the victim with something they need, such as a paid upgrade for an online game, indebting the victim. With young people spending more time online during lockdowns, groomers found a large and unprecedented target group.

As part of the County Line, gangs force their victims to transport drugs, sometimes within their bodies, along those county lines and to sell them in areas away from their home. Before the pandemic, victims would often travel by train to their allocated selling points. However, lockdown restrictions prevented people from domestic travel, making the use of trains by victims more suspicious, and resulting in the adoption of private-hire vehicles to continue the County Line drug distribution.

For gangs it is profitable to use young people for their criminal activities. They are more easily controlled, they can be seen as less suspicious to the local law enforcement, and if they are caught they will only receive a juvenile sentence as most of the young people groomed are under 18 years of age. Furthermore, by using others for the ‘dirty work’ the gang leaders distance themselves from the criminal act and therefore avoid conviction. 

Criminal exploitation is a form of ensnarement that is particularly difficult for victims to speak out against because they are often aware that what they are doing is illegal. They know that if they speak up, they may be considered guilty and they might face serious consequences. This in turn is used by the abusers, again reiterating to their victims that they are completely dependent on them, making them even less likely to try to find help. 

Protecting and preventing

In an effort to protect criminally exploited victims, multiple organisations are trying to enforce a statutory definition of CCE. At the moment, exploited young people are often treated (and prosecuted) as criminals when caught. The Children’s Society states this is due to there being multiple definitions of CCE that are circulated throughout different safeguarding partners. By implementing a sanctioned definition, these children can be classified as criminally manipulated and coerced victims rather than criminals. Additionally, due to the implementation of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015, abusers can now be prosecuted for slavery and forced labour, in addition to the drug related crimes.

To further combat online child grooming and exploitation, an Online Safety Bill has been drafted to deal with harmful online content. Even though the bill needs more clarification on complex issues, it can contribute to preventing online grooming and exploitation in the future.

Furthermore, the Children’s Society Prevention Team actively educates both children and adults on the risks of online profiles, but also teaches them how to recognise grooming behaviour. There are also ongoing projects such as Not in Our Community and NSPCC learning that spread awareness and describe how grooming or exploitation can be recognised. 

However, as a result of continuous lockdowns, opportunities to spread awareness have been limited. We have been so focussed on getting back to normal and healing ourselves that we have neglected the vulnerability of young people. Now that restrictions are easing, we should prioritise educating young people of the dangers of grooming and exploitation, and direct our collective attention toward the silent consequences of social isolation.

The following websites offer resources to support victims, and those who are looking to support victims, of child exploitation: 

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children: An international NGO providing support resources for child exploitation 

Child Helpline International: An overview of child helplines all over the world

Internet Watch Foundation: An international platform to report online sexual abuse images and videos

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children: A UK-based organisation providing explanations on different types of abuse, how to report it, and where to find support