Online grooming is not a new threat; however, the methods predators use to contact and target children and teens are constantly evolving. ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, through its Digipadresinitiative, analyzes how online harassment and grooming now often originate in everyday virtual spaces—such as multiplayer video game platforms, community servers, and direct messaging applications—and not exclusively on traditional social networks. Understanding what grooming is and how it has evolved in recent years can help families identify warning signs without assuming that every friendship formed online is dangerous.

Grooming is a process by which an adult deliberately establishes a relationship with a child or adolescent, often lying about their true identity or age, to gain their trust before exploiting or abusing them. Although this crime can occur in both physical and digital environments, the internet has completely changed the ease with which abusers can contact minors and the difficulty adults face in detecting what is happening.

Online grooming can begin in any space where a child or teenager interacts with others: multiplayer video games, social media, messaging apps, live chat rooms, or online communities built around shared interests. From their home, a single abuser can contact dozens or even hundreds of children and teenagers.

The incorporation of new digital tools, including artificial intelligence, makes it easier for online predators to create highly convincing fake identities, perfecting their fictitious profiles to match the tastes and language of their victims. However, Digipadres warns that, despite technological advances, the underlying psychological strategy remains unchanged: abusers continue to exploit the natural need for friendship, attention, understanding, and a sense of belonging that children and teenagers experience.

“Unlike offline harassment, which is restricted by geographical barriers and limited opportunities for physical contact, the internet allows an abuser to simultaneously contact dozens or hundreds of minors from their home, taking advantage of the dynamism and immediacy of the digital environment. Despite the emergence of new technologies, the best protection strategy for mothers, fathers, and caregivers remains the same: maintain open communication, promote healthy digital habits, and constantly monitor children,” says Mario Micucci, Cybersecurity Researcher at ESET Latin America.

The risk is grows; children must be protected

In the initial stages of grooming, contact rarely begins with explicit sexual content or threats. Instead, it follows a gradual pattern of manipulation:

• Simulated genuine interest: They show unusual interest in the child’s hobbies, favorite games, or everyday situations.
• Building trust: They provide constant emotional support, validation, and compliments to quickly establish an emotional bond.
• Migration to private channels: They encourage the shift of interactions from public or group chats to private messages or encrypted messaging applications.
• Demand for secrecy: They ask the minor to keep the relationship strictly confidential from their parents, teachers, or friends.
• Gradual introduction of personal/sexual topics: Once a bond of trust is established, they gradually introduce intimate conversations.
• Manipulation and emotional pressure: They resort to guilt, coercion, or threats if the victim tries to distance themselves or end the conversation.

Faced with this constantly evolving dynamic, the specialist emphasizes that assuming any friendship formed online is inherently dangerous is not the solution. Instead, active and conscious guidance from responsible adults is essential.

To mitigate the risks of grooming, ESET recommends prioritizing the following preventative measures:

1. Maintain open and continuous communication: Basic measures, such as parental controls and clear rules about technology use, can help, but should never replace open communication. Foster an environment of trust so that children can express doubts, concerns, or uncomfortable situations without fear of judgment or punishment.
2. Promote healthy digital habits: Teach privacy guidelines, the importance of not sharing sensitive information, and the proper configuration of digital accounts.
3. Constant involvement: Actively participate in the virtual environments frequented by children, understanding the dynamics of their favorite games and platforms.

“New apps, artificial intelligence tools, and online communities will continue to transform the digital environment, making it impossible to anticipate every new platform or trend. Instead of trying to keep up with every technological change, mothers, fathers, and caregivers can focus on what is most important and lasting: helping children and adolescents develop the confidence needed to recognize manipulation attempts, question suspicious behavior, and know that they can always ask for help. These are skills that will remain useful no matter what the internet looks like in five or ten years,” emphasizes Micucci from ESET.

Digipadres is an ESET initiative, based on SaferKidsOnline, designed to support and raise awareness among mothers, fathers, teachers, and caregivers about the safe and responsible use of technology by children and adolescents. Through educational content, practical guides, and current research, it provides key tools to protect minors in the digital ecosystem.

To learn more, visit: https://digipadres.com/novedades/147-la-evolucion-del-grooming-en-linea-como-los-agresores-en-linea-captan-a-ninos-y-adolescentes.

More news from ESET and cybersecurity at: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/

ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity in Venezuela by visiting: https://www.eset.com/ve/, and following them on social media @eset_ve. Also on Instagram @esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

Information and image provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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Faced with financial doubts and concerns, it’s no surprise that people are looking for alternatives to make their money go further. This leads users with little investment experience to become interested and take their first steps. ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, warns that scammers are taking advantage of this curiosity or need with increasingly sophisticated scams on social media. It also warns that AI-powered scams produce fake ads, deepfakes, and promises of profits that seek to deceive even the most cautious users.

“Could you distinguish between a real investment ad and a fake one? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so. Threat actors today have various tactics to make their scams more credible, including deepfake videos generated with artificial intelligence. While there are many tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with this type of fraud, most begin with malicious or deceptive ads circulating on social media. They are often used as a lure to trick the victim, either into providing personal information or directly directing them to an investment scam,” says Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, Head of the ESET Latin America Research Lab.

According to the FBI, investment scams have been the main source of income for cybercriminals for several years. At last count, they earned nearly $6.6 billion, and that’s just from crimes reported to the federal government. This figure dwarfs the $2.8 billion earned by the second-largest scam, business email compromise (BEC).

An example of this type of campaign was identified in June 2025, when Instagram ads impersonated legitimate banks. Some used tempting offers, such as high-interest accounts, in an attempt to persuade the victim to click and enter their banking information. In other cases, they used deepfake Instagram stories featuring banking investment strategists to collect personal information and/or lure them into WhatsApp groups about investment scams. A 2024 campaign spread a fake video of Lionel Messi to promote supposed investments through an app that promised high returns.

Also in 2024, ESET observed the Nomani Trojan campaign. The ad content and the phishing websites they linked to were designed to impersonate local news outlets and other organizations. Or, it could be a generic financial-themed visual with frequently changing names like “Quantum Bumex, Immediate Mator, or Bitcoin Trader.” Some of the characteristics of the Nomani campaign (and other similar campaigns) include:

• Highly localized content to attract specific regional victims.
• Distribution via fake ads on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, as well as Messenger and Threads.
• Deepfake video testimonials potentially using celebrities, often displayed in low-quality videos and with unnatural keyword repetition.
• Use of fake and hacked accounts to run the ads (including, in one case, an actor with 300,000 followers).
• Shared templates and callbacks pointing to the same hosting infrastructure.

In this campaign, according to ESET, the intended objective is to persuade the victim to provide their personal information, which the scammers use to contact them directly. They use this method to trick them into signing up for an investment scam, taking out a loan, or even installing remote access software on their device. ESET observed a 335% increase in Nomani threats between H1 and H2 2024, and blocked more than 8,500 related domains.

While these techniques seem like clear indicators of fraud, they can be much more difficult to detect, especially if you are looking for opportunities to alleviate financial pressures. ESET states that the continued effectiveness of these types of scams, such as fraudulent financial ads, is due to the following:

• Times are tough, and the prospect of quick and easy financial gain is attractive.
• Attention spans are decreasing, especially on mobile devices, so warning signs may not be detected in time.
• Many people are unfamiliar with the latest threat TTPs, such as the use of deepfake videos, which makes them more vulnerable.
• Many of these threats are localized, use legitimate (hijacked) accounts, and can appear at the top of search results.
• Banks’ traditional anti-fraud mechanisms often don’t work if the manipulation is also carried out socially via telephone to invest in a fraudulent scheme.

Investment scams are very common, and ESET points out that it’s necessary to pay attention to these warning signs

• Flashy ads (which may leverage legitimate brands) offering returns that are too good to be true or unusually high interest rates.
• Celebrity endorsements are often the hook to give the product a certain legitimacy. Always check if the endorsement is legitimate.
• Videos that don’t look entirely right, for example, with visual glitches, poor audio and video synchronization, low resolution, or robotic or overly polished voices.
• Pressure to act quickly and secure the investment.
• Guaranteed return on investment.

They also advise staying alert to warning signs, resisting the temptation to click on ads about finance or investments, even if they appear to be promoted by legitimate brands and individuals, searching online for reviews of a specific investment plan or group to verify their authenticity, not investing in financial products without having thoroughly researched them and understanding how they work, ignoring any unsolicited third-party offers, never sharing personal and/or financial information after clicking on an online ad, and always checking the information circulated with the supposedly issuing entity through official channels. Finally, use security software on all your devices from a trusted provider like ESET, which will help block scams.

“In times of economic uncertainty, it’s understandable that we look for alternatives to improve our financial situation. But scammers are exploiting this very need with increasingly sophisticated tactics. Therefore, being wary of what’s easy, recognizing the warning signs, and protecting your personal data is essential to avoid falling for this type of scam,” concludes the ESET researcher. ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity by visiting:  https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/.

For other useful preventive information, it is also available in Venezuela:  https://www.eset.com/ve/, and on its social media channels @eset_ve. Also, available on Instagram (@esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

Bitfinance.News

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