Between 1970 and 1990, a series of murders and sexual assaults took place in Russia. Andrei Chikatilo, a middle-aged man, killed more than 50 people. We can use his criminal acts to analyze the psychology of online predators.
Most of his victims were young women and children (boys as well as girls). After being fired from a school where he taught because he had abused his students, he found a job as a factory worker. Since he had to go on a lot of business trips, he used train stations to capture his victims. They were always children or teenagers in vulnerable situations who didn’t know how to travel by train. His story was portrayed in the movie Citizen X several years later.
Sexual predators have been a social problem throughout history. Nevertheless, the way they operate has evolved over time. Andrei Chikatilo adapted to the situation he lived in. He used train stations as a way to target his victims.
Criminals have been perfecting their paths to crime with the new information technologies that have emerged. Using social networks, chat rooms, or forums allows anyone to quickly contact a lot of people.These spaces make it easier for these criminals to select their victims. It also makes it easier for them to fabricate credible lies.
Grooming and online sexual predators
“Grooming” is the way sexual predators pursue people by means of the Internet. The speed of information and lack of security are two main factors that help them commit these acts.
According to a study on cybercrime the Ministry of the Interior of Spain carried out, most online predators tend to be male. They can be of absolutely any age, although the majority of these crimes are committed by assailants who are between the ages of 18 and 60. On the other hand, the most vulnerable victims are minors.
4 characteristics of online sexual predators
There are several psychological characteristics that can help us explain the strategies these predators use and the reasons why they do what they do:
Manipulative
Online predators know how to frame situations in ways that suit them best. They continuously create cognitive distortions to throw their victims off balance. That’s how they’re able to trick their victims into giving them whatever they want. This tends to be very easy to do with minors.
Dominant
This is an extension of the previous characteristic. Online predators create a power imbalance so that they can submit the other person to their will. Even from the very beginning of the conversation, they’ll try to dominate the other to get what they want. They seek to feel the satisfaction they experience when they have power over someone.
However, some online predators are quite the opposite in their day-to-day lives. They may seem like people who are really easy to dominate.
Superficial charm
Online predators use the online medium to create comfortable environments. They identify with the other person’s problems, showing them that they understand and are interested in what’s happening to them. Also, these predators display an interest in their victim’s tastes and desires and know how to adjust themselves to the demands of different situations.
Low self-esteem makes it difficult for sexual predators to maintain healthy relationships with anyone their own age. That’s why they seek out people who are more vulnerable and more accessible.
They have a tendency to depersonalize and objectify others
Online predators treat their victims as objects that serve to satisfy their sexual desires. Since they contact them through computer screens and can’t see them, it becomes easy for them to not consider them human. Thus, they’re able to treat their conversational partners as nothing more than entities. That’s how these criminal justify their illicit actions. They blame the victim, arguing that they brought the whole thing on themselves.
In today’s Internet age, people ask themselves how we can protect children and teenagers from these types of predators. It’s clear that these crimes mostly affect children and teenagers. In fact, this goes for cybercrimes in general. Thus, parents have to pay a lot of attention to the websites their children and teenagers visit online.
Some people use narcissistic relational styles due to their low self-esteem. They boast about virtues and display values they don’t have just to get attention. Ironically, they usually boast about what they lack. The result: they end up rejected because…
A narcissistic attitude sometimes turns into a real nightmare for the people around them. It’s not easy dealing with the paradox that is narcissism. They inflate their ego to an extreme degree. At the same time they’re as fragile and…
In some situations, you may have decided that it’s simply not possible to truly know someone. This could either happen because they act in an unexpected way (whether good or bad) or because they disappoint you. It might make you think…
Do you know a person who’s convinced that everything they say or think is grandiose? This person is probably a megalomaniac. Usually, megalomaniacs belittle others because they feel superior. But apart from their huge ego, how do you truly identify…
Chaos is a narcissist’s best friend. Without a general state of disorder, a narcissist can’t rule over others as easily. If there’s order, they have no power at all and also can’t spread the drama they love to start. That’s…
When you hear the term “separation anxiety,” you probably think about children. However, separation anxiety disorder (SAD) can also affect adults. Separation anxiety is when an individual is afraid of separating from a person, animal, or even an object. As…