Online-Based Exploitation

"Online spaces are now primary crime scenes - where recruitment, grooming and control are orchestrated at scale. We help courts understand the digital pathways into exploitation."

– Dr. Jack Pippard, Evaluation Department Lead

What is Online-Based Exploitation?

  • Online-based exploitation involves the use of digital platforms, technologies and online communication to groom, coerce, manipulate or control individuals for another person’s gain.
  • It includes exploitation that is facilitated, initiated or sustained through the internet - including social media, gaming platforms, messaging apps, dating sites and live-streaming services.
  • Victims may be targeted, recruited or controlled remotely, with exploiters using anonymity, deception, threats or blackmail to dominate behaviour and maintain ongoing access.
  • Online-based exploitation intersects with sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, financial exploitation and trafficking, often blurring the boundaries between digital and in-person harm.

Who is Affected?

  • Online-based exploitation affects adults and children across all demographics. Individuals with unmet emotional needs, prior trauma, learning disabilities, mental health difficulties or social isolation are particularly vulnerable to online grooming and coercion.
  • Children and young people are frequently targeted through social media, gaming platforms and messaging apps, while adults may be approached through dating sites, employment scams or cryptocurrency and financial fraud.
  • Victims may be located anywhere in the UK or overseas, with exploiters often operating anonymously or from different jurisdictions, making detection and safeguarding more complex.

Relationship between Modern Slavery and Online-Based Exploitation

  • Online-based exploitation is increasingly recognised as a form of modern slavery, particularly where digital platforms are used to groom, coerce or control individuals for another person’s gain.
  • While some victims are exploited entirely online, many are moved between digital and physical environments, with online contact used to initiate, escalate or maintain exploitation.
  • Online platforms enable offenders to recruit victims, coordinate criminal activity, impose threats, monitor behaviour and sustain control, making exploitation less visible and harder to detect.
  • Online-based exploitation frequently overlaps with sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, financial exploitation and trafficking, demonstrating how digital technologies are now central to modern slavery methods.

Examples in the UK

  • The way in which online-based exploitation presents can vary greatly. However, some indicators may include increased secrecy around phone or internet use, late-night messaging, multiple social media accounts or sudden changes in online behaviour.
  • Victims may receive unsolicited gifts, money, gaming credits or cryptocurrency; become unusually protective of their devices; or appear distressed, distracted or fearful after being online. It is also common to see sudden withdrawal from friends, family or services, alongside anxiety about messages, threats or image-sharing.
  • Some individuals show signs of coercion such as scripted responses, pressure to stay online for long periods or attempts to hide communications. Blackmail, sextortion and fraud-related exploitation may involve demands for money, images or personal information under threat.
  • In cases involving children, indicators often include secretive online relationships with older individuals, rapid behavioural changes, unexplained access to new platforms or apps, missing episodes linked to online grooming, and distress connected to digital contact or image-based abuse.

  • Digital recruitment: victims approached via gaming platforms, social media or dating apps.
  • Hidden grooming: exploiters build trust through anonymity, gifts or promises of friendship and opportunity.
  • 24-hour access: exploitation continues beyond physical boundaries through messaging and live-streaming.
  • Sextortion and blackmail: threats to share images or information used to force compliance.
  • Remote control: victims directed online to commit offences or perform acts while under surveillance or instruction.
  • Data and image abuse: personal data, photos or videos shared, traded or sold without consent.
  • Cross-border element: perpetrators may operate from other countries, complicating detection and safeguarding.
  • Rapid escalation: online grooming can transition to in-person abuse, trafficking or further exploitation.

  • Be empathetic and compassionate, building trust with victims and adopting a trauma-informed approach that recognises shame, fear and manipulation linked to online contact.
  • Avoid criminalising victims or using victim-blaming language - individuals may appear to engage willingly online, but coercion, threats, deception or blackmail often underpin their involvement.
  • Map and log concerns, noting digital behaviours such as new contacts, unexplained transfers of money or images, multiple accounts, secrecy around devices or sudden distress linked to online communication.
  • Work collaboratively with police, social care, education, mental health services and specialist organisations, particularly where online grooming is linked to sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation or trafficking.
  • Refer victims to the NRM where online-based coercion forms part of modern slavery, ensuring timely identification, safeguarding and access to specialist support.

  • Section 45 provides a statutory defence for victims of modern slavery who commit offences as a direct consequence of exploitation and compulsion.
  • Individuals wishing to rely on a defence of modern slavery must meet specific legal criteria. Children are not required to prove compulsion - only that exploitation occurred - whereas adults must demonstrate both exploitation and that they were compelled to commit the offence.
  • Our experts analyse the circumstances of each case to establish the connection between online-based coercion and alleged offending behaviour and assess whether the criteria have been met.

  • We provide independent, evidence-based assessments of online exploitation indicators in legal cases.
  • Our reports explain digital grooming methods, coercion and control through online communication, image-based abuse, sextortion and the use of technology to direct, monitor or manipulate victims.
  • We assess vulnerabilities, trauma responses and the wider digital context of exploitation to help courts understand how online contact can shape behaviour, consent, decision-making and alleged offending.

  1. Contact us to discuss the specifics of the case.
  2. Agree on the scope of the report and deadlines.
  3. Provide relevant case files, including prosecution evidence, social care or safeguarding records, digital downloads, device analysis, chat logs, screenshots and NRM documentation where applicable.
  4. We review all available evidence, assess the individual where possible and produce a detailed expert report outlining the role of digital coercion, manipulation and exploitation in the alleged behaviour.
  5. We attend court hearings to present our findings where necessary, providing clear, impartial explanations of online grooming, coercive control and digital exploitation to assist the court.

  • Provide clear instructions and all relevant evidence, including police reports, digital downloads, chat logs, screenshots, device analysis and social care or safeguarding records.
  • Instruct a psychologist or psychiatrist to assess trauma, cognitive vulnerabilities and the psychological impact of online coercion, particularly in cases involving children or individuals experiencing image-based abuse.
  • Allow sufficient time for detailed analysis and report preparation, ensuring the expert can review all digital material, contextualise online behaviours and assess the individual where appropriate.

Founded by Dr Grace Robinson in 2019.

OUR PRIMARY AIM IS TO SUPPORT VICTIMS AND INCREASE AWARENESS OF MODERN SLAVERY.

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