Before The Phone
The Common Steps of a Predator
By: Expose The Predators
Being a parent is hard. Being a parent in an ever evolving digital world is even harder. So, what do you do when your child wants a phone or is ready to fit in at school and use social media? It’s incredibly important to be well versed on what social media looks like for children and all the dangers of cell phone usage in 2024.
Right now there are over five million predators on the internet. Their goal is to take innocent naive children and strip them of that innocence. What does that look like? Many predators prey on children who are absent from parental supervision online. Most predators follow the same steps when it comes to contacting and building relationships with minors. As time and social media progresses, predators continue to find ways to avoid law enforcement and stay in contact with minors. These are the five common steps of a predator:
The first step of a predator is Victim Selection. Victim Selection is when the predator selects a potential victim. Predators will live mostly in online environments. As they sit on different sites such as Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Kik, etc, they examine and go through profiles to see who is most likely an ideal target. The second step is Gaining Access. Predators will share information about themselves and proceed to ask the child to share a picture (usually a selfie) so that they can make sure that they are communicating with a minor. This step can carry how the predator acts towards the minor. In This step some predators will lie about their age, but most actually are honest that they are older.
The third step is Relationship Formation. The Perpetrator will work to form a relationship with the potential victim. The perpetrator will pretend to share interests with the minor, and will oftentimes empathize with them about issues in their home or school life. Their reason for this is to serve as an understanding partner or shoulder to cry on. They might try to engage a teen, if in contact, will try to build a romantic “dating” relationship. The fourth step is when a predator desensitizes the minor to sexual content, or they assess how comfortable the minor is with sexual conversations. In this step, the predator is gauging whether the minor will cooperate with their grooming efforts. This is also the step where the predator will see if the minor will send inappropriate pictures or even agree to meet up with them. This is one of the most crucial steps in the process, as this very step can mean life or death for so many victims. Through this process, we have seen thousands of innocent minors murdered, tortured, and kidnapped. The people who do these things to children are simply sick.
The fifth and final step is Post-abuse maintenance. Once the minor has either sent a picture or met the perpetrator in person, the perpetrator will do one of two things. If they want to continue the abuse or get more images, they will use various techniques such as praise, threats of relationship abandonment/loss, or disclosure to parents to maintain secrecy. However, if the perpetrator has achieved their abusive goal (i.e. received pictures and/or abused minors in person), they may use the “hit and run” tactic, where they simply cease all communication and contact with the minor.
It is imperative in 2024 to stay up to date on the dangers of social media. Whether you are a parent, sibling, or even a family friend, if you see signs of a child being abused online it is your duty to speak up. Protect children and Expose the Predators.
