Holly* thought the man she was talking to online could be trusted. But things turned sinister when he convinced the 14-year-old to send him nude pictures of herself, which he then threatened to share with her friends and family unless she sent more or paid him money. Holly felt trapped and afraid. She told the NSPCC’s Childline that she had reported it to the social network she was using to communicate with the man, but she had not heard back from them. “I don’t want to tell the police because my parents would then know what I did and they would be so disappointed,” she said.
Holly’s disturbing story illustrates how easily children can be drawn into online sexual abuse. During Covid there was a 374% rise in the number of sexual images and videos that children and young people took themselves and shared online, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.
