NCMEC operates the CyberTipline, the nation’s centralized reporting system for suspected child sexual exploitation. In 2017 alone, we received more than 10.2 million reports, a number that has been growing exponentially each year. The CyberTipline uniquely positions NCMEC to spot patterns and trends in child sexual exploitation, including the“online enticement” of children. To better understand this type of victimization, we analyzed nearly 6,000 CyberTipline reports of online enticement. Click here to view the full report and executive summary.

What is Online Enticement?

Online enticement is a broad category of online exploitation, including sextortion, in which a child is being groomed to take sexually explicit images and/or ultimately meet face-to-face with someone for sexual purposes, or to engage in a sexual conversation online or, in some instances, to sell/trade the child’s sexual images. This type of victimization took place across every platform; social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, etc.

Who are the Victims?  Who are the Offenders?

The majority of reported child victims were girls (78%). Boys made up 14% of reports and in 9% of reports a gender was unknown.Older girls comprised the largest category of reports at 48%.Reported victims ranged in age from 1-17 years old, with a mean age of 15.

Regarding offenders, Nearly 82% of offenders were male, with around 9% of offenders being female.An age range could not be determined, but in reports some offenders were indicated to be as young as early teens, and others as late adulthood, even into their late 70s. 98% of reported offenders were individuals seemingly unknown to the children “in real life”.Of the 2% of likely known offenders, more than half (53%) were indicated as family members. The most common reported familial offenders were identified as parents/step-parents (57%) or siblings (37%).

Likely non-familial offenders ranged in closeness to the child, from family friends and ex-intimate partners, to general acquantances in the community.

What were the Offenders’ Goals?

The top offender goals were toacquire sexual content (60%) meet for sex (32%) have explicit conversations/ role-play with the child (8%)or to extort for financial gain (2%).

Regardless of how the child was exploited, either directly or as a third-party, the offender/child relationship appeared to strongly indicate the offenders’ goals. Of the likely unknown offenders for whom goals could be determined, acquiring sexually explicit images of children was the top goal (64%), followed by the goal of having sex with the child (32%), and to engage in sexual conversation/role-play with the child (8%). In contrast, offenders likely known by the children seemed to have unique motivations. Their apparent goals seemed to be sex (40%), financial gain, such as by trading the child/child’s content for money (29%), acquiring sexually explicit images, often by trading (21%), engaging in sexual conversation (6%), and getting revenge on the child, often by sharing the explicit images of the child (4%).