Protect children without making them afraid to tell you.

Common warning signs

• Secret accounts, unexplained gifts or sudden contact with older people.
• Requests to move to encrypted or disappearing messages.
• Pressure for images, livestreams, location sharing or secrecy.
• Threats to share images or expose private conversations.
• Withdrawal, panic when notifications arrive or sudden sleep changes.

What to do first

1. Thank the child for telling you and do not blame them.
2. Stop contact and use platform blocking/reporting tools.
3. Save usernames, URLs, dates and screenshots of messages. Do not forward sexual images.
4. Review privacy, location and parental-control settings together.
5. Report sexual grooming or exploitation to CEOP; call police if danger is immediate.

Talk about specific risks

Cover gaming chats, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, Discord, livestreaming, sextortion, pornography, AI-generated images, scams and sharing school or home locations.