Reassure children that speaking up is the right thing for them to do

Every day, our Childline teams across the UK speak to young people who need support after experiencing something online which has upset them, including those who have been blackmailed over the internet.

- By Darren Worth Childline senior supervisor, North of England

New research commissioned by the NSPCC found that one in five of the 2,558 UK parents polled by Savanta said they knew a child who had experienced online blackmail, while almost one in ten said their own child had been blackmailed online.

Despite this, two in five parents said they rarely or never talked to their children about the subject, giving reasons including afraid of overreacting or scaring a child (32%), their child's current mood or feelings (29%), and their child's reluctance to talk about sensitive topics (25%).