Assessing the Risks


The exact number of sexual predators online at any given time is unknown, but some estimates go as high as tens of thousands. Some have a snatch-and-grab attack as their goal. But for others who want to perpetrate a scam or create a relationship of extended sexual abuse, they are trying first and foremost to gain their victim's trust.

As Lawrence Likar, a former FBI supervisor, has said about the vulnerability of some victims of sexual abuse, "There are problems in their own lives that make them predisposed to manipulation by adults. The predators know that and are able to tap into these problems and offer what appear to be solutions."

Predators know that forming relationships is a developmental imperative of adolescence to fulfill a need for intimacy, self-validation, and companionship, and they play on that need. They also know that a disproportionate number of teens who are exploited online have difficult home relationships and are looking for support they don't get from their parents.

But it's not just children and teens who are at risk. The predators' tools for manipulation, which allow them to build trust, take advantage of emotional vulnerability, and spot people who don't get the love and support they need in their lives, can be used on anybody, at any age, and for a variety of reasons.



Look Both Ways. Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
ISBN: 0735623473
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157
Authors: Linda Criddle

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