Richard Hogan: Helping children to spot online dangers — like catfishing and grooming

In the Republic, nearly a year ago, Garda Damien McCarthy at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference, warned that children are being exploited online every day because of a serious backlog in cyber-crime investigations.

Richard Hogan. Picture: Moya Nolan

Imagine for a moment you are a 12-year-old boy. Bored one evening, you receive a friend request on one of the social media platforms you’re active on. It’s a girl you don’t know, but you have friends in common.

You accept. You chat for a while, you have loads in common.