Sexual abuse can happen online and does not always involve the offender and the victim meeting face-to-face. More and more commonly the offender’s objective is to obtain images or videos directly from a child, which they use to blackmail and threaten the victim
This is known as non-contact sexual abuse, which is any type of sexual abuse not involving physical touch. Encouraging or forcing a child into sexual activity on webcam or through images is sexual abuse, even if the child has never met the offender.