CEOP Reporting: What It Can and Can’t Handle

When something goes wrong online, most parents don’t know who to contact first. CEOP, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection command run by the National Crime Agency, handles one specific kind of concern: online child sexual abuse and exploitation. If your child is being groomed, threatened over a nude image, pressured to livestream, or asked to meet someone they met online, report it to CEOP. For almost everything else, another route will get you help faster.

What CEOP deals with

CEOP takes reports about online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. That includes:

• Grooming: an adult, or someone pretending to be a young person, building trust with a child in order to abuse or exploit them. This can include asking for photos or secrecy.
• Sextortion: someone threatening to share a nude or sexual image unless the child pays money or sends more images.
• Sexual pressure: being asked to share sexual images or videos, or to livestream something sexual.
• Meeting in person: someone your child met online asking to meet, especially if they are asking for secrecy or your child feels unsafe.

If you come across images of child sexual abuse, do not save, screenshot or share them. Report them to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) at iwf.org.uk, which works to have them removed.

What CEOP can’t help with

CEOP will not act on the following. Each has a better first route:

• Bullying, including group chats, exclusion and nasty comments from classmates. Start with the school. For advice on how to handle it, call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
• Fake accounts or impersonation, where someone has copied your child’s name or photos. Use the platform’s own report tool, and ask the platform to remove the account.