Grooming - Grooming is the process which usually involves the offender making contact with children in a chat room. Over a period of time, weeks or months, he will try to befriend a youngster, particularly someone who appears to be naive or vulnerable.
Stages of Grooming:
Conversation begins as a seemingly innocent online conversation. Many molesters have a "6th sense" as to who can be more easily victimized. They target neglected, needy children, often from troubled homes.
Conversations eventually turn to sex as the pedophile tries to 'snare' his victim. The child may be encouraged to take indecent photographs and then email the images to him.
Worst-case scenario, the pedophile may try to persuade the victim to agree to a meeting in person.
Luring - Pedphiles use many lures to entice a child. Many times, the perpetrator is posing as a child himself, but the goal is always the same; meeting a child for sexual purposes.
Affection - Many children cannot communicate with their parents. Their online "friend" understands and listens so well and supplies the mental affection that they have been longing for.
Gifts - Many pedophiles will spare no expense if there is a possibility to quench their sick addictions. Some children receive gifts from their online friends; scanners, video cams, software, stuffed animals, even one-way plane tickets!
Promises - The promise of a wonderful, stress-free life filled with everything they could every want, in what the child considers an "exotic" location, is not an unusual lure used by many predators. A beautiful horse farm, a house on the beach, Disney World, et cetera.