Financial Exploitation - A Hidden Crisis

For many years Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) has been included as a key topic within our thematic safeguarding training. This was prioritised as, despite this form of abuse being prevalent, it is rarely discussed and as such, adults understanding of it is at best limited.

This is not just my opinion. Findings from a new report published by The Children’s Society, commissioned by the Home office to deliver a national prevention programme on child sexual abuse, modern slavery and CCE, confirms that there are significant problems with the current approach to both the prevention of CCE and our response to victims of this abuse.

CCE can take many forms and occurs when an individual or group uses coercion and control to manipulate a child. A key element of CCE is financial exploitation, involving young people being coerced by criminals to move illegally obtained money through their bank account via bank transfers. By combining these funds within a legitimate cash flow, the perpetrators are effectively ‘laundering’ the money to avoid detection.

For the criminals this is ‘big business’. Data produced by the UK fraud prevention service Cifas show that in 2024 the bank accounts of 6,434 under 21 year-olds were used by criminals. In reality the figure is likely to be higher.

For the first time, the report provides evidence from young people to inform our understanding of who would participate in this form of CCE and also shares vital feedback to help shape our preventative work and our response to supporting victims.

For example, the report dispels the myth that this financial abuse only affects young people from low income families or those living in poverty. Findings show that children from affluent backgrounds also respond to ‘quick cash job adverts’, often placed by perpetrators on social media platforms, resulting in exploitation of their access to obtaining credit and / or their bank accounts.

The ability to make ‘good decisions’ is a skill learnt throughout the teenage years. This is why perpetrators actively target them, they know they are more vulnerable. For example, the report reveals that gender plays a significant role when being coerced. Young people report they are more trusting of female perpetrators. So it is important that when a teenager has been exploited due to making a bad decision that they are not blamed.

Make no mistake, the impact of financial exploitation can have serious consequences other than misappropriation of funds. Young people coerced into this violent world often experience threats to their own and loved ones safety, actual violence including beatings, stabbings and injuries from lethal weapons such as guns and financial sexual extortion (sextortion).

For educational settings to play a key role in tackling this abuse there needs to be a shift change in attitudes to the delivery of preventative education and response to those at risk or who are being exploited.

As the report findings state:

So our practice needs to be recalibrated and for safeguarding to be truly effective we must listen and understand what young people are telling us.

Sam Preston

SSS Learning Safeguarding Director

16 July 2025