PARENTS should talk to their children about online safety in a bid to beat web paedophiles, police say.

In a single week, specialists from the National Crime Agency (NCA) cuffed 192 adults on suspicion of child sex abuse offences – including blackmail and grooming.

Paedophiles are now using tricks, dares, threats or the offer of free points on online games to get children to undress in front of their webcams, the NCA said.

Support workers at the NSPCC’s Swindon base have urged parents to be aware of what their children are doing online.

With thousands of children being handed new smartphones and tablets this Christmas, the child experts have warned that parents must speak to their children about keeping safe on the internet.

Zoe Hilton, head of safeguarding at the National Crime Agency, said: “We know that as children’s online habits change, offenders are adapting with them. These individuals are learning how young people communicate online and are using this knowledge to contact, befriend and abuse them.”

Ellen Howard, children’s services practitioner at the NSPCC’s Swindon offices, urged parents to talk to their children “little and often and as early as possible” about online safety.

“Use of portable devices is on the rise,” she said. “A lot of young people have access to them.

“Parents should start talking about relationships and boundaries early, exploring the online world and looking at apps together.”

How parents start that conversation with their child would differ depending on the “relationship and the age” of the young person, she said. “But having regular conversations and looking at the apps they’re using is important.”

She said that one in three children are internet users, with NSPCC research suggesting that one in four children had seen “something upsetting” online.

A NSPCC partnership with mobile phone firm O2 lets parents talk to the firm’s “02 Gurus”, who are able to set up features like parental locks on mobile devices.

The closest 02 shops offering the “guru” service are in Cirencester and Chippenham.

Online safety advice for parents was also available through the Net Aware Guide, Ellen added.

This week, the NCA launched their own campaign to get parents to talk to their children about staying safe online.

Advice on the risks of online live streaming will be available through the agency’s “Thinkuknow” education programme.

The NCA’s Zoe Hilton said: “As well as ensuring that privacy settings are in place on the sites and apps they use, it’s so important that we have regular and open conversations with our children about being safe online and encouraging them to speak up if something is worrying them or doesn’t feel right.

“Offenders will take advantage of the fact that young peoples’ inhibitions are lower online so we’re also encouraging parents to talk to their children about what a healthy relationship looks like and how to spot when someone might not be who they say they are.”

For more, visit: www.thinkuknow.co.uk