Interpreting the Intentions of Internet Predators: An Examination of Online Predatory Behavior
Open accessAbstract
Internet predators are finding new ways to prey on the vulnerabilities of youth in chat rooms and lure them into sexual activities. This study will examine three chat room transcripts between adult predators and adult volunteers of the group "Perverted Justice" posing as youth. These conversations will be analyzed to interpret the underlying meanings behind the words and actions of the predators and how they affect potential victims. The purpose of this article is to provide insight to the reader of the increased amount of child sexual abuse on the Internet, the often-blatant tactics used by online predators to pursue this abuse, and how they are continuing to successfully manipulate children with them.
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The use of flattery ('sexy best ass') is arguably designed to ingratiate, in order to gain compliance with the request, as has been noted in previous research.
“The use of flattery ('sexy best ass') is arguably designed to ingratiate, in order to gain compliance with the request, as has been noted in previous research (Black et al., 2015;Marcum, 2007;Williams et al., 2013;Winters et al., 2017).”
From A discursive analysis of compliance, resistance and escalation to threats in sexually exploitative interactions between offenders and male children (2021) · cites this paper as Marcum, 2007
The Abstract says predators use declarations of love and compassion to gain adolescents’ trust and obtain sex; Case Study #1 describes showing care and concern to gain trust before soliciting sex. These passages support the proposed ingratiation-and-compliance mechanism, but the paper does not specifically identify flattery or compliments as the tactic. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Döring, N. M. (2009) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.04.003 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
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Black, 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
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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
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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
“The internet provided access to many young children. well (e.g., Beech et al., 2008; Black et al., 2015; Briggs et al., 2011; Ioannou et al., 2018; Malesky, 2007; Marcum, 2007; O'Connell, 2003; Williams et al., 2013).”
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Seymour‐Smith, S., & Kloess, J. A. (2021) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12437 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
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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
- Authors
- Marcum, C. D.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Marcum, Catherine D.
- ORCID
- Marcum, Catherine D.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-08-29
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 99-114
- ISSN
- 1053-8712 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-0679
- OpenAlex
- W2098582024
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 8.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- libres.uncg.edu
- Locations
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal and Social Justice Studies
- Keywords
- online predators, child sexual abuse, chat rooms, online grooming
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Middle Aged, Pedophilia, Safety, Sexual Behavior, Crime Victims, Internet, Vulnerable Populations
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