Activities
The Cyber Shield team recently visited various educational centers, engaging in interviews with Managing Directors and Heads of Centers. During these discussions, the team inquired about the supportive actions taken to assist victims of online grooming, strategies to prevent online grooming, and how they educate students about sex crimes.
We are now excited to share the insightful interview videos with the wider community. By doing so, we aim to inform and empower students, parents, and anyone concerned about online grooming and share the importance of seeking help from such educational centers.
Online Grooming Street Campaign
This campaign raises public awareness about online grooming by directly engaging communities in open spaces. Starting in Seoul, volunteers distribute brochures and cards that explain the hidden tactics of predators, the warning signs to watch for, and practical strategies for prevention. The initiative emphasizes accessible education, offering simple, actionable tips that empower people of all ages to protect themselves and their loved ones. By reaching pedestrians in everyday environments, the campaign disrupts the invisibility of online grooming and transforms the street into a place of protection and dialogue. Building on its success in Seoul, the project is expanding internationally, with schools in the United Kingdom hosting the next phase. The campaign’s cross-cultural approach reflects its mission: to foster safer digital environments worldwide by spreading knowledge, building resilience, and strengthening community awareness against online exploitation.
Online Grooming Educational Shorts
This is a short-form video series created for students, the primary targets of online grooming. Based on multiple real-life interviews, this video presents a fictional chat scenario that closely resembles actual criminal situations to realistically show how online grooming occurs. It provides a detailed analysis of the process, showing how perpetrators psychologically approach victims to build trust and gradually control them through escalating demands.
Through this video, you can clearly understand the methods strangers use in the online world to approach you, feign kindness, and ultimately lead you into dangerous situations. We hope this serves as an opportunity to learn what to watch out for to protect yourself and to think about how to respond if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Online Grooming Class Session with CLC
Online connections can seem friendly, but some hide dark motives. This video is your guide to understanding and identifying online grooming, a manipulative tactic where predators build trust with the goal of exploitation. We break down the groomer's four-step playbook: from targeting and building rapport with gifts and compliments to slowly escalating their requests and pushing your boundaries.
It's crucial to remember that this can happen to anyone, and it is never the victim's fault; groomers are experts at manipulation. Learn the critical red flags to watch for—like being asked to keep secrets or move to a private chat—and master the 4-step action plan: Stop, Save, Block, and Tell a trusted adult. Watch to empower yourself with the knowledge to stay safe online.
Eunpyeong Hi, Teen Center Interview
In this interview, Lee Sang-eun, director of the Eunpyeong Sexual Culture Center, discusses the nuanced tactics of online grooming and the challenges in supporting teen victims. She explains that grooming is a gradual process where perpetrators first build significant trust by exploiting a teen's emotional, financial, or aspirational vulnerabilities. The manipulation often begins with minor requests, like a photo of a hand, before escalating to more explicit demands and threats of exposure.
Victims frequently experience intense self-blame and are terrified of telling their parents, which creates a major barrier to reporting the crime. Lee emphasizes that effective prevention education must go beyond legal definitions, which offenders often exploit. Instead, it should be rooted in teaching fundamental human respect, framing the issue not just as a crime to be avoided but as an unacceptable violation of a person's dignity.
Taktin Naeil (탁틴내일) Interview
This is a summary of an interview with a representative from the youth sexual culture center, Tacteen Naeil. The discussion focuses on the realities of online grooming and digital sex crimes targeting teenagers. The expert explains that groomers often use social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter (X) to build trust through non-sexual means, such as feigning romantic interest, offering gifts, and showing attention, which lowers a teen's defenses.
The process begins with casual conversation before escalating to inappropriate requests, leaving victims feeling confused and complicit. This leads to profound feelings of self-blame, betrayal, and guilt, which are major barriers to reporting the abuse. The representative stresses that since anyone can become a victim online, effective prevention requires education that moves beyond simple warnings and helps teens recognize the subtle, manipulative tactics used in these dangerous interactions.
Detective Jun Cheol Park Interview
In an in-depth interview, Officer Park Joon-chul from the National Police Agency provides a law enforcement perspective on digital sex crimes. He describes the profound trauma victims face, often feeling exposed and unable to speak about their experience, which makes recounting events for a testimony a painful process of re-victimization.
Officer Park explains that teen victims, in particular, may not recognize the abuse due to the manipulative nature of grooming, where perpetrators build a bond of trust and affection to "tame" them, blurring the line between a caring relationship and exploitation. He details police protocols designed to protect victims, such as video-recorded testimonies to avoid facing offenders in court, and extensive support including safe housing and content removal. His most critical advice: the first and most powerful step is to tell a trusted adult.
Seoul MPA Cyber Crime Division Interview
This is an in-depth interview with an officer from the National Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Division. The officer details how police navigated the barrier of Telegram's anonymity and lack of cooperation during the initial 'Nth Room' investigation. Learn about the necessity of 'undercover investigation' techniques used to infiltrate closed criminal networks and the two legally codified types: 'identity non-disclosure' and 'identity disguise'.
You will also understand the turning point that finally secured Telegram's cooperation and the importance of international collaboration in these cases. Above all, discover why 'preventing secondary harm to the victim' is the paramount principle in every investigation and see the efforts police make to protect them.
Cambridge University
Prof. Mark De Rond Interview
In this interview, Professor Mark De Rond of Cambridge University discusses his immersive research into the complex world of online predator-hunting vigilante groups. He explains their methods, from using decoys who pose as minors to luring suspects, to livestreaming the eventual real-world confrontations. Professor De Rond notes the hunters' self-justification for their actions, including a "three warnings" rule they employ before engaging a target. However, he finds their rationale for public exposure often fails to withstand scrutiny. The discussion also confronts the dark consequences, including the disproportionately high suicide rate among those exposed by these groups.
Cambridge professor Mark De Rond offers crucial advice for teens on preventing online grooming. He stresses the importance of self-protection: never share compromising photos and be certain of who you are talking to online. If you are blackmailed, he urges you to contact the police immediately, as the situation will only worsen otherwise.
Dongjak Youth Culture Center Interview
During our visit to the Dongjak Youth Culture Center, Cyber Shield members interviewed directors about how they educate students about gender and sexual crimes, including online grooming. The center offers programs aimed at helping students recognize and prevent sexual crimes online. The directors emphasized the importance of students understanding the distinctive characteristics of the digital world and learning responsible navigation of social media platforms.
They also emphasized the crucial role of accessible adult support, positioning adults as a lifeline for victimized children. Our conversation with the Dongjak Youth Culture Center directors taught us the significance of education, awareness, and proactive support in safeguarding young individuals from the dangers of online grooming. This experience highlighted the collective responsibility we share in addressing this issue and underlined the importance of united efforts to protect and empower our youth in the digital era.
Teenage Women's Rights Center Interview
The Teenage Women’s Rights Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting cyber sexual exploitation victims and promoting adult rights, offering support for victims to connect with education and employment opportunities. While interviewing with the directors, we understood the importance of seeing sexual crimes as societal issues, not individual problems.
Additionally, we learned that we need to normalize sexual education to create an environment where everyone can openly discuss sexual-related issues. Meeting at the Teenage Women’s Rights Center taught us how the existing Korean laws, such as those related to the protection of children and adolescents from sexual offenses, need to be properly enforced. As the current Korean legal system is lenient, and it's essential to ensure proper punishment based on these existing laws without granting leniency.