online grooming
Online Grooming: What is it?
People who have an interest in child or underage sex will often use the internet in order to meet children and underage young people with a view to developing a sexual relationship with them. This is against the law and is a criminal activity, Australian Criminal Code Act 1995 section 474.26 and 474.27 prohibits the use of a "carrier service" to communicate with the intent to procure a person under the age of 16, or expose such a person to any indecent matter for the purposes of grooming.
Grooming can include:
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Taking an undue interest in a child
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Giving money and gifts to child for no apparent reason
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Showing pornographic materials to a child
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Talking about age inappropriate sexual topics with a child
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Talking to children about adult related topics or problems
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Attempting to extract personal information in order to arrange a face to face meeting for sexual purposes
Online Grooming: What can I do?
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Trust your feelings. If you’re feeling creepy, there is probably something creepy going on. Check it out with someone else and see if they feel creepy too!!
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Keep a record including times, dates and content so if you choose to make a complaint you have evidence of what is happening
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Let someone you trust know what is happening: this might be embarrassing but when someone else knows what’s going on it usually makes it easier to take action that might include talking to the police
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Contact your internet service provider (ISP) what is happening. They can assist you to block the source of these messages
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Don’t respond to grooming messages, responding often encourages the writer to feel they are being successful in their attempts to make the person feel that they want further contact
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Change your contact details. What a pain!!! Sometimes it’s the only way of preventing ongoing contact. Only give out your new details to trusted friends, and keep them secret from everyone else
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Keep all personal information to yourself including name, date of birth, photos, and contact details like address and phone number and credit card details
