Seeking Information
The stages of grooming, in which you can observe if a child is a victim, are:
Beginning of friendship: it refers to the first contact with the minor in order to get to know their likes, preferences and build a friendship with the goal of gaining the victim's trust. In this process, the assailant can adopt a false identity to be appealing to the minor (similar age, good-looking, similar tastes, etc.). That is, the assailant follows a strategy in order to gain the victim's trust.
Relationship. This stage frequently includes personal and intimate confessions between the minor and the assailant, strengthening the trust gained from the minor. The assailant delves into information concerning the victim's life, likes and habits. On occasions, during the relationship the assailant manages to trick their victim into performing sexual acts, such as recording videos or images via the webcam or sending pictures via their smartphone. At this stage what is known as “game of questions” comes up. In this game, the adult obtains relevant information and accesses conversations of sexual nature in a playful way.
Harassment. If the minor does not agree to or does not continue fulfilling the assailant's sexual requests, the assailant starts to force them. This extortion consists of threats to disclose publicly the victim's confessions or the explicit images. Under such pressure, the minor can feel forced and agree to the assailant's requests, and even contact physically with them.
Every day more than 500 paedophile websites are created. It is essential to distinguish between illegal (difficulty in creating jurisprudence in countries with different laws) and amoral, where sites for trafficking and exchanging child pornography are hidden, through codes and sites located in difficult-to-control websites (deepweb).
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.