MORE than 1,700 online grooming crimes have been recorded by police forces in Wales in the past six years, new figures show.

Data from the four Welsh police forces – obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request from NSPCC Cymru – shows 1,753 offences of sexual communication with a child were recorded since 2017/18 – when the offence came in to force.

The charity has now called for stronger regulations, with technology companies needing to have a legal duty of care for young users.

Sophia – whose name has been changed to protect her identity – was 15 when she was groomed by a man posing as a boy who she was chatting to on social media.

Now aged 19, she described having felt “petrified” of her abuser, who would use photographs of her to control her.

“He started getting angry if I didn’t reply quick enough or when I wasn’t saying exactly what he wanted to hear,” she said.

“It felt strange, how he was being, so I tried breaking off the conversation with him on Yubo. He just found me on Instagram and moved to messaging me directly there.

“He had started asking for selfies of me, then asking me to take my clothes off and send photos.

“When he threatened me and started being angry, I was petrified.

“He used the images to control me. I wasn’t even allowed to use the toilet without his permission.

“I was afraid to tell anyone because of the photos and his threats. He threatened to share the images of me with friends and family he’d found through my social media if I stopped replying.”

There have been 199 recorded offences of sexual communication with a child in the Dyfed-Powys Police since 2017/18.

Western Telegraph:

Across the UK more than 34,000 offences were recorded by police since the offence was brought in – with 5,500 offences took place against primary school children and a quarter of known victims aged under 12 years old.

In the cases where the victim’s gender was recorded, 17,844 (83 per cent) were female and 3,764 were male.

Snapchat was the most commonly used means of communication – being used in 26 per cent of the 13,975 cases where this was recorded. This was followed by Instagram (26 per cent), Facebook/Facebook Messenger (15 per cent), and WhatsApp (six per cent).

The new figures have been revealed ahead of MPs and Lords making final decisions on the Online Safety Bill next month.

The legislation would mean technology companies must assess their products for child abuse risks and put mitigations in place to protect children, while also giving Ofcom powers to address significant abuse taking place in private messaging and requiring companies to put safeguards in place to identify and disrupt abuse in end-to-end encrypted environments.

The NSPCC said these measures are vital to effectively protect children online.

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “Today’s research highlights the sheer scale of child abuse happening on social media and the human cost of fundamentally unsafe products.

“The number of offences must serve as a reminder of why the Online Safety Bill is so important and why the ground-breaking protections it will give children are desperately needed.

“We’re pleased the Government has listened and strengthened the legislation so companies must tackle how their sites contribute to child sexual abuse in a tough but proportionate way, including in private messaging.

“It’s now up to tech firms, including those highlighted by these stark figures today, to make sure their current sites and future services do not put children at unacceptable risk of abuse.”