Deceptive Identity Performance: Offender Moves and Multiple Identities in Online Child Abuse Conversations
Open accessAbstract
Abstract This article provides a case study of deceptive online identity performance by a convicted child sex offender. Most prior linguistic and psychological research into online sexual abuse analyses transcripts involving adult decoys posing as children. In contrast, our data comprise genuine online conversations between the offender and 20 victims. Using move analysis (Swales 1981, 1990), we explore the offender’s numerous presented personas. The offender’s use of rhetorical moves is investigated, as is the extent to which the frequency and structure of these moves contribute to and discriminate between the various online personas he adopts. We find from eight frequently adopted personas that two divergent identity positions emerge: the sexual pursuer/aggressor, performed by the majority of his online personas, and the friend/boyfriend, performed by a single persona. Analysis of the offender’s self-describing assertives suggests this distinctive persona shares most attributes with the offender’s ‘home identity’. This article importantly raises the question of whether move analysis might be useful in identifying the ‘offline persona’ in cases where offenders are known to operate multiple online personas in the pursuit of child victims.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Across 10 articles, individuals with a history of OSG and TA-CSA offenses frequently complimented and flattered their victims.
“Across 10 articles, individuals with a history of OSG and TA-CSA offenses frequently complimented and flattered their victims (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; Kloess et al., 2017, 2019; Powell et al., 2021; SeymourSmith & Kloess, 2021; Shannon, 2008; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The ‘Descriptions of prominent shared moves’ section identifies compliments, including sexual compliments, as strategies in the abuse conversations. But the paper studies one offender’s interactions with 20 victims; it does not establish that individuals across the stated offense histories frequently used compliments or flattery. The ‘across 10 articles’ framing belongs to the citing paper’s synthesis, not to this source alone. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe most prevalent form of bribery described across eight articles was monetary exchange.
“Monetary Exchange. The most prevalent form of bribery described across eight articles was monetary exchange (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban et al., 2018; Gámez-Guadix etal., 2018; Kloess etal., 2019; Powell etal., 2021; Shannon, 2008; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The 'Description of prominent offender-only moves' section lists material offers among the offender's overt-persuasion strategies. It does not specify that those offers involved money or establish that monetary exchange was the most prevalent form of bribery. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThree articles discussed how individuals adapted their personas/identities to match their victim's preferences in terms of age, gender, and sexual orientation.
“Three articles specifically discussed how individuals made use of this strategy and adapted their personas/identities to match their victim's preferences in terms of age, gender, and sexual orientation (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban etal., 2018).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The Description of moves says the offender inquired about victims’ preferences to gauge which persona would be most successful. The Data and Figure 2 sections describe personas varying in age, gender, and sexual orientation, but the passages do not establish that he adapted each of those characteristics to match a particular victim’s preferences. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFive articles reported that individuals sought sympathy when met with resistance to their directive requests.
“Seeking Sympathy. Five articles reported on findings that individuals sought sympathy when met with resistance to their directive requests (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; Kloess etal., 2017, 2019; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The “Description of prominent offender-only moves” section (page not available) identifies seeking sympathy as one strategy the offender used to push victims toward compliance, alongside direct commands. It does not establish that he sought sympathy specifically when victims resisted directive requests. The count of five articles belongs to the citing paper’s summary, not a finding attributed to this source alone. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIndividuals with a history of OSG and TA-CSA offenses were observed to make use of false online personas in 10 articles.
“Individuals with a history of OSG and TACSA offenses were observed to make use of false online personas in 10 articles (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban et al., 2018; Gámez-Guadix et al., 2018, 2021; Kloess etal., 2019; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; Shannon, 2008; K. Thomas etal., 2023; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Across six articles, many individuals with a history of OSG and TA-CSA offenses portrayed themselves as a friend to victims.
“Across six articles (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban etal., 2018; Kloess et al., 2019; Shannon, 2008; Whittle etal., 2015), many individuals with a history of OSG and TA-CSA offenses portrayed themselves as a friend to victims.”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Individuals in four articles were observed to diminish the significance of sexualized requests by adopting playful and light-hearted language.
“Minimization. Individuals in four articles were observed to diminish the significance of sexualized requests by adopting playful and light-hearted language (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; Kloess etal., 2017; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
In order to overcome resistance in victims, some individuals used similar language to present their requests as merely jokes and downplay their sexual motivation.
“In order to overcome resistance in victims, some individuals used similar language to present their requests as merely jokes, and downplay their sexual motivation (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Three articles described how individuals skillfully shifted responsibility and blame onto victims.
“Victim Blaming. Three articles described how individuals skillfully shifted responsibility and blame onto victims (Chiang & Grant, 2019, Kloess etal., 2017; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The use of explicit persuasion strategies in order to overcome victims' resistance and achieve continued engagement in sexual interactions was observed across four articles.
“Persuasion. The use of explicit persuasion strategies in order to overcome victims' resistance and achieve the goal of continued engagement in sexual interactions was observed across four articles (Chiang & Grant, 2019; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; Shannon, 2008; K. Thomas etal., 2023):”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Across six articles, individuals were reported to acknowledge the age differences between themselves and victims.
“Acknowledging Wrongdoing. Across six articles, individuals were reported to acknowledge the age differences between themselves and victims (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; Kloess etal., 2017, 2019; Powell etal., 2021; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The Introduction describes an offender in his early 20s, and the Data section reports victims who stated ages of 12–15. Neither passage reports the offender acknowledging an age difference in conversation. Searches for age-gap acknowledgments and related terms found no such passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOne individual befriended a large number of victims before coercing them to engage in sexualized interactions online.
“This multiplicity is further reflected in two additional articles, namely Chiang (2018) and Chiang and Grant (2019), who reported that one individual befriended a large number of victims before coercing them to engage in sexualized interactions online.”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang and Grant (2019)
The exchange of and request for explicit material was a strategy commonly used by individuals as part of their interactions with victims, reported across eight articles.
“Exchanging Sexual Images and Videos. The exchange of and request for explicit material was a strategy commonly used by individuals as part of their interactions with victims. It was reported across eight articles (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban etal., 2018; Kloess etal., 2017, 2019; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; K. Thomas et al., 2023; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Individuals were reported to direct victims to undress and expose certain body parts, including genitalia, via webcam, and perform masturbatory sexual acts.
“More specifically, individuals were reported to direct victims to undress and expose certain body parts, including genitalia, via webcam (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban etal., 2018; SeymourSmith & Kloess, 2021), and perform masturbatory sexual acts (Kloess etal., 2017; Whittle etal., 2015).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
In the context of victims presenting as non-compliant, seven articles described how individuals' sexual requests escalated into demands and became increasingly aggressive as they attempted to coerce victims into engaging in specific sexual acts/activities.
“Making Demands. In the context of victims presenting as non-compliant, seven articles described how individuals' sexual requests escalated into demands (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; Kloess et al., 2017, 2019; Powell et al., 2021; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; K. Thomas et al., 2023), and became increasingly aggressive, as they attempted to co”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
The use of blackmail by individuals to incite victims into participating in sexual acts/activities was reported across 10 articles.
“Blackmail. The use of blackmail by individuals to incite victims into participating in sexual acts/activities was reported across 10 articles (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; De Santisteban et al., 2018; Gámez-Guadix et al., 2021; Kloess et al., 2017, 2019; Powell et al., 2021; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; Shannon, 2008; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Chiang & Grant, 2019
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005) · Discourse Studies · doi:10.1177/1461445605054407 · Cited by 3,797 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…commonly held in contemporary identity research in the social sciences, seeing identity not as a fixed, internal ‘core self’, but as fluid and constructed, or performed, through various modes of expression, the most flexible being linguistic expression (Joseph 2004; Bucholtz and Hall 2005).”
BackgroundBlack, P. J., Wollis, M., Woodworth, M., & Hancock, J. T. (2015) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.12.004 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Identifying sexual grooming themes used by internet sex offenders
Williams, R., Elliott, I. A., & Beech, A. R. (2013) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2012.707550 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Understanding grooming discourse in computer-mediated environments
Lorenzo-Dus, N., Izura, C., & Pérez-Tattam, R. (2016) · Discourse, Context & Media · doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2016.02.004 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Detecting child grooming behaviour patterns on social media
Cano, A. E., Fernandez, M., & Alani, H. (2014) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-13734-6_30 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Shannon, D. (2008) · Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention · doi:10.1080/14043850802450120 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Kloess, J. A., Seymour-Smith, S., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. E., Long, M. L., Shipley, D., & Beech, A. R. (2017) · Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1177/1079063215612442 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Kopecký, K. (2017) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2016.04.004 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Characterizing Pedophile Conversations on the Internet using Online Grooming
Gupta, A., Kumaraguru, P., & Sureka, A. (2012) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1208.4324 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 21
- ¸ar, K. V. 2016. 'Sexual extortion of children in cyberspace,' International Journal of Cyber Criminology 10: 110-26.
- Bhatia, V. K. 1993. Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. Pearson Education.
- Boon, A. 2013. 'Identifying moves in an IMCD ses- sion,' Bulletin of Toyo Gakuen University 21: 219-35.
- Boon, A. 2015. 'Learner support and discovery in a virtual non-judgmental environment,' PhD thesis, Aston University.
- Bucholtz, M. and K. Hall. 2004. 'Language and identity' in A. Duranti (ed.). A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Blackwell Publishing.
- Chiang, E. and T. Grant. 2017. 'Online groom- ing: moves and strategies,' Language and Law / Linguagem e Direito 4: 103-41. Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). 2013. 'Annual Review 2012-2013 & Centre Plan 2013-2014'. [Online]. Available at https://www.ceop. police.uk/Documents/ceopdocs/AnnualReview CentrePlan2013.pdf. Accessed 14th May 2015.
- Craven, S., S. Brown, and E. Gilchrist. 2006. 'Sexual grooming of children: Review of litera- ture and theoretical considerations,' Journal of Sexual Aggression 12: 287-99.
- Eneman, M., A. A. Gillespie, and C. S. Bernd. 2010. 'Technology and sexual abuse: A critical review of an Internet grooming case' in ICIS 2010 Proceedings, paper 144. [Online]. Available at http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2010_ submissions/144. Accessed 21 January 2016.
- Grant, T., and N. Macleod. (in press). 'Resources and constraints in linguistic identity performance: a theory of authorship,' Language and Law/Linguagem e Direito.
- Herring, S. C. 1993. 'Gender and democracy in computer-mediated communication,' Electronic Journal of Communication 3: 1-17.
- Joseph, J. E. 2004. Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Marcum, C. 2007. 'Interpreting the intentions of internet predators: An examination of online predatory behavior,' Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 16: 99-114.
- Ospina, M., C. Harstall, and L. Dennett. 2010. Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth over the Internet: A Rapid Review of the Scientific Literature. Institute of Health Economics. Available at http://www.ihe.ca/advanced-search/sexual-ex- ploitation-of-children-and-youth-over-the-inter- net-a-rapid-review-of-the-scientific-literature.
- Samraj, B. and J. M. Gawron. 2015. 'The sui- cide note as a genre: Implications for genre theory,' Journal of English for Academic Purposes 19: 88-101.
- Searle, J. R. 1979. Expression and Meaning Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts. Cambridge University Press.
- Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge University Press.
- Swales, J. 2004. Research Genres: Explorations and Applications. Cambridge University Press.
- Tagg, C. 2015. Exploring Digital Communication: Language in Action. Routledge.
- Tannen, D. 1992. You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Virago Press.
- Whittle, H. C., C. E. Hamilton-Giachritsis, A. R. Beech, and G. Collings. 2013. 'A review of online grooming: Characteristics and concerns,' Aggression and Violent Behavior 18: 62-70.
- Winters, G. M., L. E. Kaylor, and E. L. Jeglic. 2017. 'Sexual offenders contacting children online: An examination of transcripts of sexual grooming,' Journal of Sexual Aggression 23: 62-76.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Offender strategies for engaging children in online sexual activity
Joleby, M., Lunde, C., Landström, S., & Jonsson, L. S. (2021) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105214 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Our study supports the claim that online offenders use more pressure, coercion, and persuasive language in their interactions with actual children than in their interactions with decoys (Chiang & Grant, 2018; Schneevogt et al., 2018; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021).”
InfluentialSeymour‐Smith, S., & Kloess, J. A. (2021) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12437 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Schittenhelm, C., Kops, M., Moosburner, M., Fischer, S. M., & Wachs, S. (2025) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-024-00248-w · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“This could encourage them to engage in risky online behaviors, such as carelessly connecting with strangers, who may exploit these connections via blackmail (Chiang & Grant, 2019).”
Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse
Thomas, K., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C., Branigan, P., & Hanson, E. (2023) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106143 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Moosburner, M., Weber, C., Kuban, T., Wachs, S., Schmidt, A. F., Etzler, S., & Rettenberger, M. (2026) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380251316223 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Evans, C., & Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2025) · Applied Corpus Linguistics · doi:10.1016/j.acorp.2025.100147 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Porcelli, C., Anderson, F., & Kloess, J. A. (2026) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380251411261
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CYBERGROOMING DETECTION MODEL ON ROBLOX
Castañón Marroquín, A. P., Rodríguez Colis, B. A., Bazán Durán, A., & Colmenares-Guillen, L. E. (2026) · CHAKIÑAN Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades · doi:10.37135/chk.002.29.01
- Authors
- Chiang, E., & Grant, T.
- Corresponding author
- Chiang, Emily
- Venue
- Applied Linguistics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-03-23
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 675-698
- ISSN
- 0142-6001 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-450X
- OpenAlex
- W2771071257
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 40.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Applied Linguistics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Aston Publications Explorer (Aston University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Discourse Analysis in Language Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Linguistics and Discourse Analysis
- Keywords
- child sexual offenders, online child sexual abuse, move analysis, rhetorical moves, online personas, home identity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
