Are children in Wiltshire really safe when playing a game online?
The National Police Chief's Council's revealed four in five online criminals are gamers
Are our children as safe as we think they are when gaming online in their bedroom?
Wiltshire Police are urging parents to be aware of the risks their children could be exposed to when playing games on the internet.
It comes as the National Police Chief's Council revealed four in five cyber criminals are gamers.
They also said that 82% of young people being recruited by online criminals develop skills on video games - with the most neurodiverse being targeted.
Games a 'huge opportunity' for criminals
Simon Partington is a cyber Crime prevent and protect officer at Wiltshire Police and told Greatest Hits Radio that gaming platforms have become a form of social media.
"You can have potentially 64 people playing the game with you when you're speaking to them," he said.
His colleague, Simon Goodwin told us the mobile gaming community now consists of 3 billion gamers - almost 40% of the global population.
And with many teenagers gaming into young adulthood, he added that it's a 'huge opportunity' for crime gangs to anonymously recruit young, and often vulnerable, people.
Mr Partington explained that the young people with the most skills when dealing with computers are more likely to be targeted by criminals.
"If your child is particularly good on computers, that makes them real kind of prime pickings for these organised crime groups because they can be recruited for tax, for tasks such as money laundering and perhaps cryptocurrency.
"And also, there's lots of money to be made from stealing people's credentials and selling it now, it's not just recruiting for drug dealing, it's actually recruiting to be able to go and hack people as well."
It goes beyond the game
We're warned to look for many of the typical signs related to grooming children into criminal activity, such as withdrawn behaviours, secrecy around device use, an increased use of devices and generally anything out of character.
Mr Partington told us it can be difficult to police the online sector due to people being able to hide information, saying the platforms themselves, such as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, have a responsibility to make their platform as safe as possible.
But it's not only while playing a game that children can be at exposed - with applications such as Discord and Reddit allowing subgroups for specific interests, that criminal groups could be infiltrating.
Mr Goodwin said that criminals are exploiting a potential blind spot in parents understanding of the online world.
"It's sometimes easy, if your child's happy playing on the game in the bedroom, to leave them there because it's their safe space.
"But it's not, they're connected to the big bad world outside."
He added that children are at risk because they don't always recognise the dangers of a situation.
The pair are encouraging parents to have conversations with their children about the very real risks and to learn from our children - as they may understand how certain apps work better than we do - on how to keep ourselves safe.