Grooming 

This phenomenon refers to befriending children online for sexual purposes.

This is when an adult deceitfully approaches a child or an adolescent using new information and communication technology, such as chats, social media, forums, etc. The purpose is to establish a supposed friendship and gain the other’s trust to obtain physical or online sexual satisfaction.

People who do this are called groomers or cyber predators. They usually have false profiles to contact minors, who then send them naked pictures or videos or with sexually explicit actions. This then involves extorting the other person online and, finally, sexual abuse.

Adolescents below the age of 14 are the most vulnerable group to grooming and, especially, girls. Grooming is also used for the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Finally, the legal frameworks regarding grooming vary. One of the pending issues is making it a crime and criminalizing it.