Islander Emily Chiang (29), a PhD candidate at the centre for forensic linguistics at Aston University, has analysed the deceptive methods of a sex offender who abused several children online.
Her study is the first of its kind to use forensic linguistic analysis to investigate real life conversations between a convicted sex offender and his victims.
Analysing online web chats with more than 20 victims as young as 12, Ms Chiang and her team looked at how the offender – a man in his early 20s who pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges related to grooming, blackmail and distributing indecent images of children – befriended boys and girls using 17 fake identities.
The man then coerced his victims into sending indecent images of themselves or engaging in other sexual acts via webcam.
‘Most research in this area relies on transcripts between offenders and adults posing as children, as done by undercover police officers,’ explained Ms Chiang.
‘But this study looks at online instant messaging conversations between a convicted child sex offender and several of his victims.’
Ms Chiang identified 19 linguistic ‘moves’ displayed by the offender – who adopted several identities with different characteristics – from greetings, rapport and maintaining conversation, to initiating sexual topics and extortion.
‘A common early move was for the offender to build rapport by asking questions such as “asl?” – age, sex, location – and “wuu2?” – what are you up to? – to build relationships and trust,’ she said. ‘A prominent strategy was to inquire about sexual history and preferences, including asking “Ever been with a girl”?
‘Some victims would resist sexual advances, which provoked even more coercive moves from the offender.’
Ms Chiang, who grew up in St John, said the study also examined how the offender tried to force victims to send images or messages by threatening to distribute previously obtained pictures or videos of the victim.
‘Victims were found to resort to bargaining, begging and expressing fear and vulnerability,’ she added.
It is hoped that the research will help police catch offenders operating on the dark web – a hidden area of the web where special software is needed to gain access.
Members of the university’s centre for forensic linguistics have in the past assisted in several investigations and provided linguistic evidence in numerous court cases.
Professor Tim Grant, director of the centre for forensic linguistics at Aston University, said: ‘Emily’s study is an important step forwards in helping us understand how criminals operate online and how to prevent them from hiding under the veil of anonymity.’
Steve Walsh, head of dark web intelligence at the National Crime Agency, said: ‘As this work from Aston University shows, forensic linguistic analysis is one of the behavioural approaches that can be exploited to enhance the prospects of attributing identity to offenders hiding behind online anonymity and to identify where an offender is exploiting multiple online personas.’
