Article
What predatory contact looks like
The same patterns show up on very different apps. This is what parents can notice, with links to the guides. It does not describe how that contact is carried out.
Predatory contact is not one logo. It is a handful of moves that turn up on games, chats, and random video. You do not need sexual detail to recognise them. You need the shape, and then the guide for the app in front of you.
They will not stay where other people can see. It starts in a game, a comment, or a public room. Then they want a more private place: Discord, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, or a server you cannot see. The Roblox and Minecraft guides are the ones parents open when a game "friend" wants to move.
They offer something. Robux, V-Bucks, followers, a gift, or money, in exchange for a photo, a secret, or leaving the app. Read Roblox, Fortnite, TikTok, and Likee. An offer of free currency that needs a login or a download is not a discount.
They ask for photos, and then for secrecy. Disappearing messages and pictures that can be viewed only once are part of that pattern. Snapchat, Instagram, Wizz, and Yubo are the usual places. If an adult has already asked for sexual images, stop and use the help page. Do not message them, and do not copy the images.
They want a meeting, or the details that make one possible: a school, a town, a club, the walk home. Snapchat can show a map. Pokémon GO is built around real places. Yubo, Whisper, and MeetMe are built around nearby people.
The next person is a stranger on purpose. There is no friend list to check. Omegle, OmeTV, Chatroulette, Monkey, and HOLLA do not belong on a child's device.
You cannot see who is speaking. Anonymous questions feel like a game, and they hide whether it is a classmate or an adult. See NGL, Tellonym, Ask.fm, and Whisper.
A cute world or a headset does not mean the other person is a child. They follow, they will not take no, or they want the chat to continue somewhere else. Read VR and the metaverse, Gorilla Tag, PK XD, and Roblox.
An adult dating app on a child's phone is not something to manage inside the app. Take it off. Tinder and the other dating guides are written for that moment. Grindr is an adult sexual environment. That is separate from a young person's identity.
None of these guides explains how the contact is done. They say what to look for, what to take off the device, and when to get help. The house rules are in How to stay safer. If it has already happened, read When to get help.
Examples from the guides
Each link is a parent briefing for that app. The briefings say what to notice and what to do. They do not explain how the contact is carried out.
