Com Networks: Spot Recruitment Before It Starts

Com networks are online groups that recruit young people into harmful acts. CEOP’s new guidance for parents explains that they manipulate, pressure and blackmail children, sometimes into self-harm, violence or sexual exploitation. The first contact often happens on apps your child already uses every day, so knowing the signs matters more than knowing the names.

How a Com network reaches your child

These networks are loose and constantly changing. Members move between platforms, rename groups and reappear under new usernames. Coverage from UK safeguarding services has linked routes into these groups to mainstream platforms, including Discord, TikTok and Telegram.

The pattern usually follows the same steps:

• Contact: A stranger or someone posing as a peer messages your child, often after they’ve commented on a video or joined a gaming server.
• Trust: The contact offers attention, praise, gifts or a sense of belonging. They may say they understand your child better than anyone.
• Pressure: Your child is asked to complete “tasks” or “challenges” to prove loyalty. These escalate over time.
• Control: Threats follow. Private photos, secrets or personal details are used to make your child feel they can’t leave or tell anyone.

Your child is rarely the one in control at this stage, even when it looks like they chose to be there.

Warning signs to watch for

No single sign proves your child is involved. Look for a pattern, especially a change from how they usually behave.

• Secretive about a particular app, or switches screens quickly when you walk in
• New friends they’ve never mentioned, especially older people they’ve met online
• Sudden money, gift cards or new items with no clear source
• Withdrawal from family, friends or activities they used to enjoy