Sexual coercion, abuse, blackmail, dissemination of intimate photos and videos - these crimes have long been committed not only offline, but also online.

Camouflaged by the anonymity of the internet, criminals try to establish sexual contact with children and young people - and later blackmail them or, in the worst case, abuse them.

Young people are not only victims online, but also perpetrators - for example when intimate photos of classmates are shared in class chats.

Not only sending child pornography, for example, can be punishable by law - possession in a chat app, for example, is also punishable by law. In 2020, 140 boys and girls were investigated at a school in Dortmund. In a recent case in 2021, there were 400. When evaluating the data, further punishable content repeatedly emerges among young people, including downloaded videos with serious acts of sexual abuse against children.

What to expect

On this page, we would like to provide you with information and tips to prevent such offences in the future and thus protect children and young people in particular.

In the words of police superintendent and youth contact officer Katja Wittmann-Jodscheit: "It is the responsibility of us parents to talk to children and young people about the dangers on the Internet."

After all, "children today have to learn at an early age when sending a photo or video is a criminal offense. They need to develop an awareness of wrongdoing. Above all, they must be able to recognize the criminal intent of a chat partner and interrupt the communication immediately in order to protect themselves from a crime," says Police Chief Inspector Mark Poltrock.