Online Grooming: Charlotte's Story

When I was 15 I was feeling really low and lonely. I found it difficult to mix with people and I wasn't sure why. I had been bullied at school because people thought I was different and I spent a lot of time on my own. I used to go online a lot and often used Blackberry messenger (BB). I enjoyed making new friends online as I found it easier than talking to people face to face. It made me feel less lonely. I used to add people that I didn't know and I'd never had any problems before. I got a BB request from a girl I didn't know and added her. I don't know how she got my number but I had previously put my BB number on Facebook asking people to add me. We talked quite a lot for a few days about general things and built up a friendship. After a couple of days the conversation changed. She kept asking and asking for me to send her a naked picture. I wasn't very confident and was more likely to do something like that without questioning the reason why so I just sent her one without thinking about it. She kept asking for more. When I said "no" she threatened to put the one she had on Facebook. I was scared as I didn't want my friends and family to see it. I didn't hear anything for a couple of days so I didn't think she was going to do anything with it but then I heard that she'd set up a group under my name with the naked picture of me on. I wasn't friends with her on Facebook but because she'd put my name in the group name, anyone who searched for me found it. I got lots of messages from people saying they'd seen it and most of the messages were really nasty. Because many people contacted me I started to believe it. She took the photo down a couple of days later so I thought it was all over. But she had sent the picture to a family member too who she had also added on BB and it got back to my mum. She was upset and angry. She wanted to know who the person was and she reported it to the police. Someone from the Sexual Exploitation Investigation Unit came home and took a statement from me. The police started an investigation and contacted Facebook and traced the page back to a man who had been doing it to other people too. It made me feel even worse knowing that it was a man that had done that to me.