Sexual exploitation: How vulnerable teens are lured by online predators

Teenagers spend a lot of time online connecting with friends, chasing likes, and looking for acceptance. That same openness makes them easy targets for predators who know exactly how to exploit the desire for attention and belonging.

Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Telegram, Discord, and Roblox have become everyday hangouts for young people where friends build communities, connect seamlessly via voice, videos and texts.

Yet for predators, these are fertile hunting grounds. They start with friendly messages, build trust, and gradually push for more personal contact, often moving the conversation offline once the victim feels comfortable.

In one recent case in Nairobi, two 17-year-old girls were allegedly lured into a trap by two men in their early twenties and a 17-year-old boy. The perpetrators reportedly used a fake identity on TikTok to attract the girls, gain their trust, and invite them out for food and drinks.

Emmanuel Bosire Arisa aka Tariq, Brian Gatheru Nderitu, and a minor appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate E.M.M. Wamae at Makadara Law Courts for the second time to face charges, including robbery with violence and gang rape. The minor is not accused of the rape.

A week earlier, the duo had been charged with multiple counts of robbery, gang rape, and assault against seven women above the age of consent.

According to the prosecution, the three ambushed the girls outside a house in Utawala estate on August 13, 2026. They allegedly threatened one girl, Anna (not her real name), with a knife, stole her iPhone 13 Pro Max valued at Sh50,500 and Sh50,000 in cash, and took Sophia’s Samsung phone valued at Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 in cash.

Bosire and Gatheru are also accused of gang-raping the girls and committing an indecent act with a minor.

Police say Tariq used his TikTok account to target young women and teenagers looking for friendship or “friends with benefits”. He would befriend them online, get their contacts, take them to a restaurant in Utawala, ply them with food and drinks, and then rob them once they were under the influence. The group later forced the victims to call parents or friends and ask for money.

Anna, a student, met Tariq on a dating site. After some time talking, he invited her for lunch. She accepted and brought a classmate. Tariq arranged a taxi to a popular Utawala restaurant. They ate, drank cocktails until about 7.30pm then headed toward Ruai, supposedly so the accused could change clothes. Tariq promised to let the girls join a study session once he changed his clothes.

On the way to Ruai, the driver stopped on a quiet road and Tariq told them the house was close by. As darkness fell, two men, allegedly Gatheru and the minor, emerged and ambushed them, snatched their phones, threatened them with a knife, demanded M-Pesa transfers, and forced them to call for more money.

This is not an isolated case. There are many, some of which never reach the police. Survivors often stay silent, carrying trauma that can later show up as self-harm, isolation, or, in some tragic instances, harming others.

A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report on how digital technologies enable child sexual abuse says nearly one in five children aged between 12 and 17 years experiences technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse every year.

Across 21 countries, including Kenya, almost 20 million children have been sexually exploited online, often on mainstream platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

The report, based on interviews with nearly 2,500 children and adolescents in 2022, shows how abuse frequently moves from screens to real-world locations.

Roughly 15 million children had been exposed to unwanted sexual content, nine million had been asked to engage in sexual conversations or send sexual messages, and four million had sexual images of themselves shared without consent.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell notes the deep harm inflicted on children and families.

In 57 per cent of cases, the abuser was someone the child already knew, peers, romantic partners, friends, or family members.

Victims commonly feel shame, humiliation, and isolation. Children who experienced unwanted sexual attention were four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts or self-harm. About 40 per cent never told anyone what happened, while only one per cent of the cases reached authorities.

The report calls for dismantling cultural norms that tolerate the sexual exploitation of children, objectifying girls and blaming victims and for stronger laws, better policies, and real accountability from tech companies that host these spaces.

Locally, such cases are common. For instance, in July 2025, the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit based in Mombasa and working with Changamwe Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers arrested a 41-year-old woman accused of using a dating site to traffic three children aged 13, seven and four years.

The suspect allegedly sent explicit photos of the children to buyers. Her husband was also charged with sexually abusing their eldest daughter.

Two months earlier, in Nyali, Noel Naliaka Ndinyo was arrested after the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children flagged her Snapchat account.

She was charged at Shanzu Law Courts with online child exploitation under Section 22 of the Children Act, 2022, which makes it illegal to use online platforms to solicit meetings with children for sexual purposes, to transmit or make available obscene material to children, and to engage in grooming, cyber-harassment, enticement, or stalking.

Conviction carries up to ten years in prison, a fine of up to Sh2 million, or both.

Still, in mid last year, several young people were lured to a house in Mihango with the promise of jobs, but later forced to create online sexual content. A 43-year-old woman, her 23-year-old daughter, and a 30-year-old man were arrested in connection with the case.

These incidents show how easily teenagers can be groomed and exploited through the very platforms they use every day.

Parents, schools, social workers, and law enforcement need to equip young people with clear, practical knowledge about safe online behaviour. Tech companies, for their part, must do more than issue statements. They need stronger default privacy settings, better detection tools, and genuine accountability when their platforms are used to harm children.

Child grooming into sexual abuse and exploitation happens when perpetrators entice children so that they can solicit them for sexual purposes. This happens in the most dynamic stages, according to the United Nations report on interpersonal cybercrime.

Firstly, the perpetrator chooses a victim based on the victim’s “appeal or attractiveness”, preferred by the perpetrators’ desires, where privacy settings are disabled and children post about isolation or feeling misunderstood

Following selection, the abusers contacts the victim to gain access to them then seeks to form a friendship with the victim. From there, they gather crucial information about the victim from online sources and use this information to deceive the victim by, for example, feigning common interests and hobbies and similar family and social situations, in order to relate to the victim, build rapport, and establish trust. The perpetrator’s objective is to further develop the friendship into a relationship

Before the sexual exploitation or abuse, the offender assesses the risk of being detected by, for example, asking the victim if parents or others monitor their accounts and digital devices. They exclusively communicate about the relationship and the need for secrecy, thus isolating the child from the rest of the family members.

Following a successful grooming, the perpetrators then swiftly move to use information and communication technologies to sexually abuse children by asking them to send their videos and photos of themselves engaging in explicit sexual content and send them via email, text message, chat rooms and encrypted and unencrypted communication apps such as Skype, Telegram and WhatsApp and mainstream social media platforms.

Some password-protected sites such as ‘Dreamboard’ require an upload of the sexual abuse and exploitation materials of children below 12 years first to be able to be granted access to only limited content. Membership is maintained depending on how frequently you upload the explicit sexual content. Alternatively, children can be instructed to stream live as they engage in unconsented sexual activities.

In an era where children grow up with the Internet in their pockets, High Court Advocate Veinna Mong’are offers a clear-eyed, deeply human dissection of how juveniles can be protected from online sex pests, and why adults must confront the root causes of teenage sexual abuse if society is to safeguard the next generation.

Before the sexual exploitation or abuse, the offender assesses the risk of being detected. [File, Standard]

Drawing on years of experience handling juvenile sex-offence cases, Ms Mong’are explains that she has represented numerous children and adolescents who have been defiled, sodomised or indecently assaulted. These matters, she stresses, demand extraordinary sensitivity.

“My primary responsibility as a court user is to ensure that a child’s rights are rigorously protected from the outset,” she says.

This means safeguarding evidence, upholding proper legal procedure, and shielding the child from unnecessary questioning, intimidation, or the trauma of repeatedly reliving painful events.

At the same time, every case must rest strictly on the evidence. However grave an allegation may be, it must be investigated fairly and thoroughly tested through due process.

Ms Mong’are acknowledges the sharp rise in sexual abuse cases among teenagers and attributes the trend to a combination of overlapping factors.

Unfiltered access to pornography and other explicit material exerts a powerful influence on young minds. Online grooming on digital platforms allows adults and sometimes peers, to manipulate young people into sexual activity or exploitation.

According to the lawyer, gaps in comprehensive sexuality education in some schools leave many teenagers turning to peers or the Internet for information. Peer pressure and natural curiosity, combined with limited understanding of consent, personal boundaries and long-term consequences, create high-risk situations.

“Weak parental supervision or strained family dynamics often leave children reluctant to discuss relationships and sexual health with trusted adults. Substance abuse further impairs judgement and increases vulnerability. In some cases, perpetrators exploit a child’s trust or dependency within the home, school or community,” notes Mong’are.

Financial pressure, she reveals, also plays a role when parents or guardians cannot provide certain material needs. Some teens, particularly girls, become susceptible to exchanging sex or explicit images for money, gifts, housing or favours.

Unfortunately, such cases remain heavily under-reported due to fear of stigma and weak reporting systems which, in the long run, allow abuse to thrive in silence.

It is essential, she notes, to distinguish carefully between consensual teenage sexual activity and sexual abuse, even as the law provides specific protections for minors.

Prevention

Allegations must be treated with the utmost seriousness, while the fundamental right of the accused to a fair trial is fully upheld.

Preventing online sexual abuse and exploitation requires coordinated action across every sphere of a child’s life. Parents must foster an environment of open communication in which children can speak without fear of shame or immediate punishment. They should know who their children spend time with, monitor online activity, teach clear bodily boundaries, and emphasise that any uncomfortable situation must be reported.

Schools need robust, clearly communicated safeguarding policies so that students know exactly whom to approach. Teachers must be trained to recognise warning signs and respond appropriately. They should never conduct their own investigations or interrogate the child.

Authorities must act swiftly and professionally, securing both digital and physical evidence, separating the child from alleged perpetrators, and managing cases through a child-sensitive, trauma-informed process that respects privacy and due process alike.

Ms Mong’are observes that a cross-sector collaboration is indispensable.

“Parents, schools, children’s officers, police, healthcare professionals and the justice system must work in seamless partnership,” she urges.

Above all, prevention cannot begin after a crime has occurred, she insists.

“Children need early, age-appropriate education on consent, boundaries, online safety, grooming tactics and healthy relationships long before they encounter dangerous situations.”

She outlines five essential principles, and every teenager should know that their body belongs to them.

“No one has the right to touch you sexually, pressure you, or force you into anything that feels wrong or uncomfortable. Never send intimate photographs or videos, even to someone you trust completely. Once an image is sent, you permanently lose control over where it goes,” advises Mong’are.

Thirdly, children should never meet an online stranger alone. People easily invent identities, use false photographs and lie about their age.

Penultimately, victims should never be afraid to seek help. If someone has threatened or abused them, it is advisable to inform a trusted adult.

Teenagers must understand the fundamental truth: abuse is never the victim’s fault.

“It does not matter if you trusted the person, spoke to them online, accepted a gift, or went somewhere with them. Nothing gives another person the right to violate you,” says the lawyer.