Predatory Online Behavior: Modus Operandi of Convicted Sex Offenders in Identifying Potential Victims and Contacting Minors Over the Internet
Abstract
Sex offenders have used the Internet to identify and contact minors for sexual exploitation (Armagh, 1998; Hernandez, 2000; Lamb, 1998; Lanning, 1998). Yet little is known about how these individuals select their online victims. In order to gain a better understanding of this behavior, the online activity of 31 men who perpetrated or attempted to perpetrate contact sex offenses against minors they communicated with via the Internet, was examined. Three-fourths of the participants monitored chat room dialogue and almost one-half reviewed online profiles of minors in an attempt to identify potential victims. Recommendations to increase the online safety of children and adolescents are discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
Some individuals identify and approach potential victims on the basis of profile pictures and information displayed thereon, in particular age; others deliberately use websites geared toward children and young people.
“In terms of how such individuals identify and approach potential victims, some do so on the basis of profile pictures, and information displayed thereon, in particular age. Others deliberately use websites geared toward children and young people (Malesky, 2007; Wurtele & Kenny, 2016).”
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 Malesky, 2007
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Internet’s impact on sexuality: A critical review of 15 years of research
Döring, N. M. (2009) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.04.003 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
Briggs, P., Simon, W. T., & Simonsen, S. (2011) · Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1177/1079063210384275 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
A review of online grooming: Characteristics and concerns
Whittle, H., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C., Beech, A., & Collings, G. (2013) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.avb.2012.09.003 · Cited by 242 · see citing works
Online Child Sexual Exploitation: Prevalence, Process, and Offender Characteristics
Kloess, J. A., Beech, A. R., & Harkins, L. (2014) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/1524838013511543 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Kloess, J. A., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. E., & Beech, A. R. (2019) · Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1177/1079063217720927 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
DeHart, D., Dwyer, G., Seto, M. C., Moran, R., Letourneau, E., & Schwarz-Watts, D. (2017) · Journal of Sexual Aggression · doi:10.1080/13552600.2016.1241309 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Sexual offenders contacting children online: An examination of transcripts of sexual grooming
Winters, G. M., Kaylor, L. E., & Jeglic, E. L. (2017) · Journal of Sexual Aggression · doi:10.1080/13552600.2016.1271146 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Association of Maltreatment With High-Risk Internet Behaviors and Offline Encounters
Noll, J. G., Shenk, C. E., Barnes, J. E., & Haralson, K. J. (2013) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2012-1281 · Cited by 83 · 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
Greene-Colozzi, E. A., Winters, G. M., Blasko, B., & Jeglic, E. L. (2020) · Journal of Child Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1080/10538712.2020.1801938 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Sexual Interaction in Digital Contexts and Its Implications for Sexual Health: A Conceptual Analysis
Döring, N., Krämer, N., Mikhailova, V., Brand, M., Krüger, T. H. C., & Vowe, G. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.769732 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
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
Internet-related child sexual abuse: What children tell us in their testimonies
Katz, C. (2013) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.06.006 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Bergen, E., Davidson, J., Schulz, A., Schuhmann, P., Johansson, A., Santtila, P., & Jern, P. (2014) · Victims & Offenders · doi:10.1080/15564886.2013.873750 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Broome, L. J., Izura, C., & Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2018) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.021 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Behavioural Differences Between Online Sexual Groomers Approaching Boys and Girls
van Gijn-Grosvenor, E. L., & Lamb, M. E. (2016) · Journal of Child Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1080/10538712.2016.1189473 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
An observational study of Internet behaviours for adolescent females following sexual abuse
Noll, J. G., Haag, A.-C., Shenk, C. E., Wright, M. F., Barnes, J. E., Kohram, M., Malgaroli, M., Foley, D. J., Kouril, M., & Bonanno, G. A. (2021) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01187-5 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
de Santisteban, P., & Gámez-Guadix, M. (2017) · Psychosocial Intervention · doi:10.1016/j.psi.2017.02.001 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Detecting sexual predators in chats using behavioral features and imbalanced learning
CARDEI, C., & REBEDEA, T. (2017) · Natural Language Engineering · doi:10.1017/s1351324916000395 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Combining psycho-linguistic, content-based and chat-based features to detect predation in chatrooms
Barreiro, A., Losada, D. E., & Parapar, J. (2014) · Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz · doi:10.3217/jucs-020-02-0213 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Strategies and cues adolescents use to assess the age of an online stranger
Groenestein, E., Baas, N., van Deursen, A. J. A. M., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2018) · Information, Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2017.1309443 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Porcelli, C., Anderson, F., & Kloess, J. A. (2026) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380251411261
- Authors
- Malesky, L. A.
- Affiliations
- Western Carolina University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Malesky, L. Alvin
- Venue
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-07-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 23-32
- ISSN
- 1053-8712 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-0679
- OpenAlex
- W2139008817
- Cited by
- 128
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 4.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal and Social Justice Studies
- Keywords
- sexual offenders, child sexual exploitation, chat rooms, adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Child Welfare, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Middle Aged, Pedophilia, Prisoners, Surveys and Questionnaires, Research Design, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Crime Victims, Internet, Trust
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
