These are ways someone might use technology to build a relationship with you (or your child) specifically to exploit, control, or harm you later. It often starts with flattery, attention, and gifts — and gradually crosses boundaries.
Important: This resource provides general information, not personal advice. Every situation is different. The actions suggested here may not be safe in your specific circumstances — particularly if the person causing harm could notice changes to your devices or accounts. Always consider your physical safety first.
If you need personalised support, contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or your local specialist domestic violence service. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
This framework is under active development. View full limitations & methodology.
| ID | Name | Description | |
| SAFE-T-0151 | Age/Identity Deception | Misrepresenting age, identity, appearance, occupation, or circumstances to build trust. Includes catfishing, using stolen photos, creating false personas, and age misrepresentation by adults targeting minors or by scammers targeting adults. The deception is the foundation on which the exploitative relationship is built. | |
| SAFE-T-0153 | AI-Assisted Grooming | Using AI chatbots, LLMs, or automated messaging to maintain multiple grooming relationships simultaneously at scale. AI enables personalised, varied manipulation conversations that adapt to each target's responses. The 'pig butchering' industrial model uses AI to manage hundreds of simultaneous relationships, with human operators stepping in for hi... | |
| SAFE-T-0148 | Boundary Testing & Desensitisation | Making incrementally escalating requests to test compliance and normalise boundary violations. Starts small (share your location, send a photo, stay up late talking) and escalates (send intimate content, meet in person, transfer money, cut off contact with friends). The request-demand-threaten-force escalation sequence. Each compliance makes the ne... | |
| SAFE-T-0149 | Isolation from Protective Networks | Encouraging or engineering the target's separation from friends, family, or online communities who might recognise the grooming pattern. 'They don't understand us.' 'Your parents wouldn't get it.' 'Your friends are jealous.' Undermines existing relationships to increase dependency on the perpetrator. | |
| SAFE-T-0152 | Livestream Exploitation | Using livestreaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube Live, TikTok Live, Instagram Live) to make initial contact with minors, build relationships through donations/gifts, engage in chat, and move to private communication. Livestreaming provides a parasocial dynamic where the viewer feels a personal connection to the streamer, which groomers exploit. | |
| SAFE-T-0150 | Migration to Private/Encrypted Platforms | Moving communication from public or monitored platforms to private, encrypted, or ephemeral channels (Telegram, Signal, Snapchat, WhatsApp) to avoid detection by parents, platform moderation, or law enforcement. Framed as 'more personal' or 'more private' but the purpose is removing safety infrastructure. | |
| SAFE-T-0146 | Online Target Identification | Using social media, dating platforms, forums, or gaming platforms to identify and select potential victims based on vulnerability indicators such as loneliness, recent breakup, financial difficulty, age, or naivety. The perpetrator scouts for targets before making contact, often reviewing profiles, post history, and public information to assess sus... | |
| SAFE-T-0154 | Sextortion-as-Grooming | The pattern where initial sextortion of a minor transitions into ongoing control and exploitation. The first coerced image becomes permanent leverage for escalating demands — more images, sexual acts, money, or compliance. The perpetrator uses shame and fear of parental discovery as ongoing leverage. This is the intersection of grooming and sextort... | |
| SAFE-T-0147 | Trust Building & Love Bombing | Overwhelming the target with attention, affection, compliments, gifts, or constant communication to create emotional dependency and false intimacy. In romance fraud, this is the 'fattening' phase. In child grooming, this is the befriending stage. The perpetrator mirrors the target's interests, validates their feelings, and positions themselves as u... | |