February 28 2024- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is releasing a new analysis on children lured from their homes and reported missing between 2020 and 2023. The focus is on online enticement, encompassing grooming, sextortion, and explicit content sharing. The analysis reveals serious cases where offenders met children in person for sexual offenses or abduction, leading to them becoming missing. The information aims to better inform parents, law enforcement, and child welfare professionals. Staca Shehan, VP of NCMEC’s Analytical Services Division, highlights the importance of this data, offering insights into online targeting, age differences between offenders and children, and revealing that 41% of offenders were more than 10 years older than the child, with the largest age gap being 48 years.
https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2024/online-enticement-new-analysis-blog
