![]() ![]() We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. He said children could be groomed without leaving their bedrooms. The children then owe a debt and find themselves in ‘debt bondage’ to the groomers. Iryna Pona, policy and impact manager at the Children’s Society, said: “Vaping is a way of grooming.”Īccording to Bolderson, children can also be reeled in through online gaming platforms where groomers befriend them in internet gaming chatrooms, give them coins to enable them to play more games. Some girls have been forced to take on “debts” for their boyfriends they are expected to repay.Ĭhildren can be given free vapes along with bicycles, sweets, magazines or even free sandwiches to entice them to get involved with county lines groomers. Every child can be exploited criminally,” she said. They are targeting more affluent children. We are seeing much younger children and the modus operandi of traffickers is changing. ![]() Rebecca Griffiths, head of the National Counter-Trafficking Service at Barnardo’s, said that the charity had received 300 referrals from various parts of England and Wales in the past three months. The committee heard that London, West Midlands, Manchester and Merseyside were four of the main areas for county lines activity, and that thousands of children and young people were getting pulled in every year. Since Covid, families are struggling, and with really professional advertising young people think they are going to help out their families.” That has been growing in the last six months. Adverts on Instagram and Snapchat for young people to get involved in county lines look professionally done – ‘recruitment opportunities available’. He said: “Social media platforms need to take more responsibility. Johnny Bolderson, manager at the organisation Catch 22, which helps to support and rescue children and young people groomed into county lines exploitation, told the committee that children as young as seven were now getting involved in drug running. ![]()
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