CICC warns of online grooming tactics, from love-bombing to blackmail

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Wednesday warned that online grooming involves several stages of manipulation, including isolation, love-bombing and blackmail, which could lead to violence or suicide among young victims.

Speaking at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing, CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Renato Paraiso said nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), which authorities suspect may have contributed to a series of school shootings, involves different levels of manipulation that could lead to various outcomes.

Paraiso said online groomers typically target children through gaming and social media platforms, where they assess their potential victims' interests, including their attitudes toward violence and sexual content, before befriending them.

“After that, they move [victims] to messaging platforms such as Discord and Telegram, which are more private. There are also communities within these platforms,” Paraiso said.

He said groomers then attempt to gain their victims' trust and emotional dependence through a tactic known as love-bombing.

“In those communities, they make [victims] feel loved through what we call love-bombing. The goal is for the group to replace the family structure,” he added.

NVE refers to an extremist mindset that embraces violence, destruction or mass harm without necessarily pursuing a conventional political, religious or ideological goal.

Unlike traditional extremist movements, which often seek to advance a defined cause or worldview, NVE may be driven by nihilism, alienation, a desire for notoriety or an online community's glorification of violence.

According to Paraiso, groomers initially ask victims to perform seemingly harmless tasks, such as taking selfies, while offering praise and encouragement to gain their trust.

The demands gradually escalate to more serious and potentially incriminating acts, including committing crimes or sending nude photographs.

Paraiso said groomers could then use these materials to blackmail victims, threatening to release the images or expose their actions if they tell their families about the abuse.

He warned that the final stage of manipulation could lead to extreme violence or suicide, although not all cases result in school shootings.

“In the final stage, victims may either carry out school shootings or, more commonly, although we do not always see it, young people take their own lives,” Paraiso said.

The warning comes amid concerns over three school shooting incidents reported in the Philippines in 2026.

In June, three students were killed when two suspects opened fire on their classmates at a public high school in Tacloban City.

In August, a student shot a schoolmate before turning the gun on himself in Zamboanga.

A similar incident occurred in South Cotabato in September, when a student shot a schoolmate before taking his own life.— MCG, GMA News

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