Authorities are warning Riverina parents that groomers rely on children feeling too embarrassed or ashamed to report suspicious behaviour.
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Research shows, at any given moment, about 750,000 individuals online across the globe are looking to connect with children for sexual purposes.
Police say, for this reason, parents and guardians need to be actively involved in their children's online lives.
The caution follows the sentencing of a Junee man who used social media to encourage a seven-year-old to send him sexually explicit images.
Paul Douglas Halbisch, 30, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 years for sexual activity, and using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material.
He made contact with the young girl in February 2019 and last week was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail.
The Digital Lives of Australian Teenagers found that three in 10 teenagers had been contacted by a stranger online, up from one in four just three years ago.
Australian Federal Police detective Paula Hudson said agencies are aware of forums on both the dark and clear net where offenders discuss tactics to groom victims.
"[We] are regularly seeing cases involving children and young people being targeted by online child sex offenders through social networking, image or video sharing apps, or instant messaging to self-produce online child sexual exploitation material," she said.
"Parents are just as responsible for protecting the safety of their children online as they are when monitoring their activities outside the house such as playing in a park or in the street.
"While they might think their children are safe because they are under the same roof, they can never be sure unless they are remaining vigilant and asking their children about their online use."
AFP Operation Molto last year charged 44 Australian men with 350 offences relating to child exploitation material.
While all offenders arrested were men, their ages ranged from 19 to 57.
They worked in varied occupations including construction, IT, consultancy, health and safety, retail, hospitality, transport, security, law enforcement and education.
Superintendent Hudson said this shows that parents and carers can't be complacent about who has access to their children - anyone could be trying to groom them, especially online.
She said it is important for parents to have a conversation, rather than immediately take away the device or app they are using.
"Children may view having devices taken away from them as negative, and [be] less likely to open up about issues they are facing online," she said.
NSW Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Commander Jayne Doherty said that predators use social media and gaming sites to target potential victims.
"Often, they make contact with young people, usually unknown to them and begin engaging in conversation," she said.
Police are aware of forums on both the dark and clear net where offenders discuss tactics to groom victims, including sharing experiences, providing advice and exchanging ideas on how to establish relationships with children online.
- AFP detective Paula Hudson
"Mainstream social media sites are often utilised more frequently. However, any app, online game, or social media platform that allows the user to be in contact with people they do not know can put them at risk."
In 2020, officers from the squad's child exploitation internet unit made 57 arrests for 204 offences relating to online grooming.
"In addition, the NSW Police Force has youth liaison officers and school liaison officers across the state who work closely with schools to inform and educate youth," Superintendent Doherty said.
Throughout the 2020 pandemic restrictions and lockdowns worldwide, reports of illegal and harmful content online, including child sexual abuse material, doubled.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said research shows that agencies had reported unprecedented increases in reports about child sexual abuse material and online grooming.
Ms Inman Grant said all platforms that allow social interaction can expose children to unwanted contact from strangers, being bullied or abused, or being exposed to harmful content.
She said that popular platforms among young people will always be attractive to predators looking to exploit and groom them.
The eSafety commissioner protects children through regulatory schemes that include helping to combat online child sexual abuse material.
"We can facilitate rapid take-down of content and law enforcement action where appropriate," Ms Inman Grant said.
"We need to educate children from a young age about online dangers, and this begins with our early years program.
"This education needs to continue as they get older, but we know scare tactics, finger-wagging, and lectures don't work.
"Responsibility for online safety can't continue to be the responsibility of kids and their often overwhelmed parents.
"We need the tech companies to lift the safety standards of their platforms."
Find advice at www.esafety.gov.au/parents.
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