Use of Social Engineering For Grooming of Children and Adolescents In Cyberspace: A Systematic Mapping Study

The cyber environment has become increasingly present in the daily lives of children and adolescents, raising new concerns about their safety in this space. In this scenario, there is growing evidence that cybercriminals are using social engineering techniques to manipulate and sexually exploit minors — a practice known as grooming. In light of this, this paper presents a systematic mapping of the literature on online grooming. The objective is to identify how the topic has been addressed in the academic literature, which detection or mitigation strategies have been proposed, and in which digital environments such practices are most recurrent.