More than 3,000 online grooming crimes have been recorded across Scotland in the past five years.

This is according to new data recorded by Police Scotland and compiled by the NSPCC.

The figures reveal that 3,234 offences of communicating indecently with a child have been recorded since 2019.

There were 672 offences recorded in 2023/24, marking a 13% increase from the previous year.

Becky Riggs, National Police Chief’s Council lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigations (CPAI), said: "The numbers in this NSPCC data are shocking and policing joins partners in urging tech companies and Ofcom to fulfil their legal and moral obligations to keep children safe from harm within the online communities they have created.

"A year on from the Online Safety Act being passed, it is imperative that the responsibility of safeguarding children online is placed with the companies who create spaces for them, and the regulator strengthens rules that social media platforms must follow.

"Policing will not stop in its fight against those who commit these horrific crimes.

"We cannot do this alone, so while we continue to pursue and prosecute those who abuse and exploit children, we repeat our call for more to be done by companies in this space."

NSPCC want Ofcom to strengthen rules on social media platforms (Image: Patch Dolan) The NSPCC has released these findings one year after the Online Safety Act was passed.

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: "One year since the Online Safety Act became law and we are still waiting for tech companies to make their platforms safe for children.

"We need ambitious regulation by Ofcom who must significantly strengthen their current approach to make companies address how their products are being exploited by offenders.

"It is clear that much of this abuse is taking place in private messaging which is why we also need the UK Government to strengthen the Online Safety Act to give Ofcom more legal certainty to tackle child sexual abuse on the likes of Snapchat and WhatsApp."

The charity is urging Ofcom to significantly strengthen the rules that social media platforms must follow to in order to tackle child sexual abuse on their platforms.

They say the current focus is too much on reacting after harm has occurred, rather than being proactive in ensuring that the design features of social media apps are not contributing to abuse.

The NSPCC is also calling for the government to strengthen legislation to ensure that child sexual abuse is disrupted in private messages on platforms such as Snapchat and WhatsApp.

The charity’s Voice of Online Youth young people’s group was not surprised at the prevalence of Snapchat in offences.

Lidia, 13, from Glasgow, said: "Snapchat has disappearing messages, and that makes it easier for people to hide things they shouldn't be doing.

"Another problem is that Snapchat has this feature where you can show your location to everyone.

"If you're not careful, you might end up showing where you are to people you don’t know, which is super risky."