Daniel Morcombe’s parents reveal how their young grandson was groomed online as he played popular game Roblox

Bruce and Denise Morcombe have revealed the horrifying moment they witnessed their six-year-old grandson being groomed by someone they thought “smells like a paedophile” as he played a popular game on his iPad.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe have reiterated their online safety messaging for children after witnessing another potential attack by a child predator on a member of their family.

The Morcombes said they were driving when their six-year-old grandson Winston, who was sitting in a booster seat behind them playing Roblox on his iPad, said he was receiving messages from someone who said he knew him.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe have revealed their six-year-old grandson received messages from stranger on Roblox in a potential attempt to groom him. Photo Lachie Millard

“Winston said ‘Nana, Pa, this person knows my name,’ We just looked at each other and said, ‘Oh okay,’” Ms Morcombe told 7 News.

Mr Morcombe said he became immediately suspicious and “frightened”.

“That doesn’t sound great, that smells like a paedophile online trying to groom Winston and we were pretty frightened,” he said.

Roblox is a multiplayer online game and video game creation system. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

They then checked their grandson’s message history, recorded the evidence and blocked the other player after sending him their own message.

“He was offering to help him improve his game skills. He was trying to gain his confidence … we sent a message to him saying, ‘stop contacting kids you online creep’,” Mr Morcombe said.

They applauded Winston for using the skills to recognise, react and report unsafe activity online now taught to millions of children following the abduction of his uncle Daniel Morcombe in 2003, well before this kind of technology existed.

Daniel Morcombe went missing while waiting for a bus on December 7, 2003. Picture: John Wilson

Mr Morcombe said that in today’s technology driven world banning children from gaming was not the solution but encouraged parents to be actively involved in their children's safety online.

The Daniel Morcombe Foundation website has free games for children to teach them how to be safe and said to keep devices out of bedrooms and to always supervise, use privacy settings and know who children are talking to while Roblox said that parents can disable chat functions.

“A lot of these social media sites are not suitable for kids under 13,” said Ms Morcombe.

“Don’t take the iPad away from them. It’s not their fault it’s the adults’ fault,” added Mr Morcombe.

Originally published as Daniel Morcombe’s parents reveal how their young grandson was groomed online as he played popular game Roblox