How many kids get kidnapped from using the Internet?

Answer 1

The actual number is miniscual. Way more than 10 per year statistically speaking. Bear in mind what has to happen:

1. First we need a perpetrator with a psychopathology deep enough that he actually will commit a kidnapping in real. This is not a common pathology at all.
2. Then, this person has to be able and willing to use the internet, instead of a direct approach. This is uncommon in that, even with pics, it's not the same as seeing someone in person, and perpetrators of this type of crime often fixate on appearance. So we are discussing a very rare type of psychopath.
3. Then we need a child who is on the Internet, and is unable to detect the danger (which isn't common -- kids can actually detect danger very well, especially if they've been taught how).
4. Then they have to arrange a clandestine meeting, and the perpetrator has to be geograhically close enough to do that.
5. From here, we transitition into real face-to-face crime.

Keep in mind that, if we have a perpetrator who really has the desire to perform this criminal act, it's a lot easier to do without the Internet.

Sexual kidnappings are actually quite rare, compared to a zillion other crimes against persons. Perpetrators than can pull off something with this degree of organization are rarer still. But the best defense lies with educating your child.

By the time your child is able to talk to people over the Internet, he or she should already have been warned and taught about the dangers strangers present. Even very young kids, by the time they develop language skills, can know enough not to accept rides from strangers. All you have to do is extend this teaching to cover people one talks to on the net.

And finally -- if my child actually does encounter a sexual predator/kidnapper, I'd much prefer that there was 1,000 miles of copper wire between them, than see a meeting occur face to face.

Answer 2

The numbers are so negligible that no solid data was found. But various sources, including the FBI, say that kidnappings due to the net are rare. Much more common is predators wishing to visit a child to have sex with him/her.