In 2021, 5,316 child pornography cases were handled by the Postal Police, with an increase of 47% compared to the previous year.
The number of minors, 531, approached on the web by abusive adults is also growing.
The range most at risk is between 10 and 13 years, but cases of online grooming of children in the 0 - 9 age group are also growing, increasingly connected to role-playing and online video games.
For the National Day against Pedophilia and Child Pornography on May 5, Save the Children and the Postal Police release a data dossier on online grooming, which grew up during the pandemic, and a guide for parents.
Pedophiles or groomers (adult hookers interested in minors), who exploit the network and to get in touch with minors were 208, equal to 15% of the total number of suspects for the exchange of child pornography material (1,421 adults).
From the dossier "Online sexual abuse to the detriment of minors", by the National Center for the fight against online child pornography (CNCPO) of the Postal and Communications Police Service of Rome with the collaboration of Save the Children, it emerges that the most affected is the pre-adolescent age, aged between 10 and 13, which in 2021 recorded 306 victims of online grooming, almost 60% of all 531 minors approached on the web by groomers, despite minors 13 years old is not allowed to access social networks.
Males and females are almost equally at the center of online grooming cases intercepted by the Postal Police.
In general, children and young people who use the net,
they seem to be at greater risk of enticement when using social networking and messaging.
The data relating to the age group 0-9 years which is increasingly involved are worrying.
Particular dangers emerge from role-playing games and online video games: the growing attraction exercised by these services on the little ones has led pedophiles to focus their attention also on gaming platforms (online video games), exploiting their chat and messaging services and offering the possibility of hooking up minors more easily.
To provide a tool to parents and educators, also to respond to the expansion of the use of digital technologies and the lowering of the age groups of those who access digital environments, the guide "Grooming Online was created.
Knowing and Preventing ", written by the Cybercrime Analysis Unit of the Postal Police (UACI,) and Save the Children. The guide contains three sections, each dedicated to parents of different age groups: boys and girls aged 0-6 ; of 6-10 years; pre-adolescents of 11-13 years, each with the description of some specific experiences of each age, with the educational challenges for the reference adults and with general and specific advice regarding the main problems.