National Crime Agency

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a crime-fighting law enforcement agency responsible for leading the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime. It keeps schools informed of developments.

The NCA wishes GMS to inform parents, carers and others of the following information:

• Sextortion – a crime involving an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images
  and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
  Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however, a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18. A child or young person is never to blame if they have been a victim. Offenders will have tricked, groomed and/or manipulated them into sharing an image.
• Report all incidents to the police, by calling 101 or 999, if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child.
• Use CEOP Safety Centre. There is a CEOP Education’s parents and carers website. They have age-appropriate advice on topics such as sexual communication and image sharing.
• The charities Childline and Internet Watch have a tool called ‘Report Remove’. This tool helps young people report confidentially any sexual images and videos of themselves that may have been sent and shared.
• The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has a tool called ‘Take It Down’. This removes or stops the online sharing of images or videos.
• The Brook charity offers advice and supports victims of crime.
• The UK Safer Internet Centre helps children and young people stay safe online.
• Have privacy settings on all accounts to restrict access.

Attachments – please take the time to read through the linked document.

• NCA Parents & Carers Information

Having an open and non-judgemental conversations with young people in your care is important.