Only 18% of youth use chat rooms, however, the majority of Internet-initiated sex crimes against children are initiated in chat rooms. (Journal of Adolescent Health 47, 2010)

In 82% of online sex crimes against minors, the offender used the victim's social networking site to gain information about the victim's likes and dislikes. (Journal of Adolescent Heatlh 47, 2010)

65% of online sex offenders used the victim's social networking site to gain home and school information about the victim (Journal of Adolescent Heatlh 47, 2010)

26% of online sex offenders used the victim's social networking site to gain information about the victim's whereabouts at a specific time. (Journal of Adolescent Health 47, 2010)

At least 200 million girls and 100 million boys will be sexually victimized before they reach adulthood(International Centre for Missing & ExploitedChildren)

One in seven kids received a sexual solicitation online. (Wolak, Michell and Finkelhor. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, VA, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 2006.)

44% of sexual solicitors were under the age of 18. (Wolak, Mitchell and Finkelhor. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, VA. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 2006.)

Sexual solicitations of youth occur: (Wolak, Mitchell and Finkelhor. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, VA. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 2006.)

• Chatrooms (37%)

• Instant Messaging (40%)

• Other, like gaming devices (21%)

The more risky behaviors kids engage in online, the more likely they will receive an online sexual solicitation.  These risky behaviors include: (Indicates percentage of teens that demonstrate indicated behavior. Ybarra, Michele et. Al. “Internet Prevention Messages: Targeting the Right Online Behaviors.” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2007.)

• Posting personal information (50%)

• Interacting with online strangers (45%)

• Placing strangers on buddy lists (35%)

• Sending personal information to strangers (26%)

• Visiting X-rated sites (13%)

• Talking about sex with strangers (5%)

The majority of victims of Internet-initiated sex crimes were between 13 to 15 years old; 75% were girls and 25% were boys. (Wolak, Mitchell, and Finkelhor. “Internet-initiated sex crimes against minors; implications for prevention based on findings from a national study.” Journal of Adolescent Health. 35.5. 2007.)

13 percent of 2nd-3rd grade students report that they used the Internet to talk to people they do not know, 11 percent report having been asked to describe private things about their body and 10 percent have been exposed to private things about someone else's body. (Rochester Institute for Technology, 2008​)

Nine percent of children in 7th-9th grade have accepted an online invitation to meet someone in-person and 10 percent have asked someone online to meet them in-person. (Rochester Institute for Technology, 2008​)

The most common first encounter of a predator with an Internet-initiated sex crimes victim took place in an online chat room (76%). (Wolak, Mitchell, and Finkelhor. “Internet-initiated sex crimes against minors; implications for prevention based on findings from a national study.” Journal of Adolescent Health. 35.5. 2007.)

Of child kidnapping victims, 40% are killed, 4% are never found, with 71% being taken by a complete stranger. (http://www.lindenhurststrangerdanger.com/?page_id=2​)