Helston residents issued warning following increase in online child grooming

A warning has been released to Helston parents following an increase in online activities that are been putting children at risk.

Online applications such as Snapchat, Omegle and Roblox are currently causing safety breaches for children in Helston.

Donna Bryant, Head Teacher of Helston Community College said:

"We have been alerted to some specific incidents affecting children in our schools regarding external hacking of some online applications and games that children are using at home.

"Those who would seek to harm children are making the most of the period of lockdown to increase their grooming activities. There has been a significant increase of such activity. Police are actively investigating these concerns."

Snapchat has a 13+ age restriction and an account needs to be set up. Omegle has a 13+ age restriction and asks users under 18 to only access the site with parental permission/guidance. However, there is no registration process or age verification and so users simply click a button to chat.

In the Roblox game, it appears that players are enticed to engage with a stranger using virtual gifts. One of these gifts is a camera, which when opened, takes them to a private 'server' area.

Players are then sent a camera which takes a photo immediately when 'clicked on' or opened. Children are gradually encouraged to upload indecent images of themselves, which is also shared to players.

"We all tend to think it won't happen to us, to our children, but it can, and for a couple of families, it has. Please be vigilant," Donna Bryant said.