Police are warning parents about the dangerous ways child predators are accessing children online.

Sgt. James Spurlock of Loudon County, Virginia, speaks to children in his area about the dangers of talking to strangers online. He says that child abusers are becoming an increasingly strong threat to children online.

Predators have taken to spending most of their time online and reaching out to young teens and children they don't know in order to sexually exploit them.  Child predators are now using online games and game message boards to lure kids in. Pedophiles   are pretending to be children to groom kids online.  

"They call it bunny hunting," Spurlock said to a room full of 11- and 12-year-olds.

There's more people on the Internet in the world than there's ever been and as technology becomes easier and cheaper, it ends up in the hands of people that couldn't have afforded it 10 or 15 years ago. It puts more young people into technology. It puts more access to predators who 20 years ago had no access to them and can now simply sit on their computers at home or in an Internet cafe or Starbucks and reach out and talk to hundreds of kids with no real effort.

Spurlock began his class with a question for the students. "If someone threatened you online or sent you something inappropriate, how many of you would immediately go tell your parents?" he asked. 

According to The Washington Post, several dozen students in the crowd of more than 100 raised their hands right away, with others reluctantly following. However, many remained still, with their arms by their sides.

"Okay, not everyone's hand is up," Spurlock said. "So let's talk about that."

Many students who did not raise their hands said that they fear their parents would take away their phones or other devices. They would rather live with the risks of sexual exploitation than have their parents take away their phones.

Spurlock explains to the students how important it is to tell their parents if something inappropriate or uncomfortable happens to them online. He also teaches similar classes to parents, in which he warns them not to get angry or punish their children for telling the truth.

Spurlock warned that "one in 5 of you will be a victim before you turn 18."

Spurlock hopes that his campaign will increase awareness of the vulnerability of young people on the internet. 

It can take less than 20 minutes for “highly skilled” pedophiles to groom a child on the internet, according to new research.

Parents have been urged to take more of an interest in their children’s online activities after the four-year study found that pedophiles employ a range of techniques to persuade children into doing what they want at worrying speed.

Professor Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Dr Cristina Izura analysed  conversations between 192 online sexual predators and researchers posing as children as part of the Online Grooming Communication Project.

They said the “strategies” used by internet pedophiles include ‘small talk’ to develop a sense of trust and compliments to increase trust.

The study found that the time between initial online and the first sexual requests ranged from between 18 minutes and 82 hours.

“We have carried out a detailed analysis of the language used by more than 100 online groomers which shows that they are skilled communicators who use a range of strategies,” said Professor Lorenzo-Dus.

Parents need to have regular discussions with their children about their favorite internet activities and how they spend their time online.  Parents could try to open up discussions with their children about the dangers on the internet.

"It is unrealistic to stop children using the internet and it is not always possible to monitor all their digital activities,” said Professor Lorenzo-Dus.

"However, increasing their understanding of how online grooming works and the communicative tactics online groomers use will make it possible to recognise the potential dangers."

Dr Izura added: "Parents could try to open up discussions with their children about the dangers on the internet, including online grooming.

"Listening to them carefully and taking an interest in their online activities is a good way to build their trust in us and help reduce the risk of children looking for trust elsewhere online."