Young people’s lives span the physical and digital worlds, with each of these as real as the other. Innovations in technology bring great opportunities but they also facilitate new ways for perpetrators to access and exploit children and to keep their activities hidden.

In this session we aim to share our learning and increase awareness of some of these new and emerging online exploitation concerns with a particular focus on the Financial Exploitation of children and young people and Online Sexually Coerced Extortion (often known as sextortion).

This session is aimed at professionals working at protecting children from exploitation and will aim to:

  • Explore how to best engage with young people regarding their digital lives and through doing so better protect them from harm.
  • Consider current and emerging online exploitation concerns, with a particular focus on financial exploitation and online sexually coerced extortion.
  • Discuss recent developments in online safety including the Online Safety Act and End to End Encryption and how these impact safeguarding young people from exploitation.
  • Build understanding of the risks to children and young people online, including the dark web and gaming.
  • Create space to share new and emerging online exploitation issues which attendees are encountering in their practice.