How Kids Become an Online Sex Offender's Prey

Almost every day we hear news broadcasts detailing the conviction of an online sexual predator who committed some astonishing crime against a child he met in an online chat room or on a social networking site.

One of the most common questions that I’m asked by my friends, the people that I meet and by my Web site visitors is, “How do kids get drawn in by the everyday sex offender on the Internet?”

The first thing to consider is that in most cases, the young people are in a vulnerable position in the first place. The preferred victim is not usually the star athlete, the kid at the top of the honor roll or the head cheerleader. The best victims are the kids who lack something in their lives.

The child may be lonely and hungering for attention because his/her parents are not physically or emotionally available for him. He/she may be living in poverty and desires just the basic needs of survival including food, clothes and shelter. The void in the child’s life might even just be something that the child wants such as music, games, or electronics.

The offender moves with great haste to identify what the need of the young person is, what he/she longs for and fills that need almost instantaneously. The child begins to hear all the right things and soon begins to develop an emotional relationship with the potential offender. Some of the most common things that kids are told include:

·You are absolutely beautiful!
·I love you, want you or need you.
·You deserve a better life than you’ve had and I can give you that.
·I would love to take you shopping (or mail you gifts) and spoil you rotten.
·I will always have time for you and you can call me or e-mail me anytime.

Soon the intended victim is hearing everything he/she has longed to hear and is being showered with all the attention he/she has ever dreamed of. Then the expensive gifts begin pouring into their homes and the intended victim feels an emotional attachment to the potential sex offender.