Moving money

This report presents the findings of our research to better understand child financial exploitation. Through our interviews with frontline professionals it is clear that this emerging issue is still poorly understood and that there is an urgent need to both address this gap and for greater collaboration between agencies in order to effectively safeguard children from harm.

35 pages

11 July 2025

Download PDF

What is financial exploitation?

The Children’s Society first became aware of child financial exploitation in the early 2020s, as reports emerged of children being coerced into laundering money. With growing evidence, the organisation began raising awareness through campaigns like Look Closer and, in 2024, secured government funding for a specialist role to lead on this issue. Our efforts led to government recognition and new guidance on financial exploitation.

Financial exploitation can take many forms. In this context, we use the term to describe exploitation which takes place for the purpose of money laundering. This is when criminals target children and adults at risk and take advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate, or deceive them into facilitating the movement of illicit funds. This can include physical cash and/or payments through financial products, such as bank and cryptocurrency accounts.

Financial exploitation is a form of child criminal exploitation when the victim is under 18 years old.

Our work suggests that child financial exploitation can happen in different ways, but current understanding is largely directed towards money movement. While children need more consistent and effective safeguarding around this, we know there’s more to learn to ensure that they are protected from all forms of financial exploitation.

Our findings

This research is based on in-depth interviews with specialist professionals who work closely with children and families who have experienced child exploitation. Their views and experiences shed light on a growing awareness, but still limited understanding of financial exploitation. Key findings include:

Exploitative money laundering may be widespread but may go unnoticed by parents and carers, or professionals (teachers, social workers or others, including the police) who have a safeguarding role.
This exploitation can occur alone or alongside other forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation and children made to participate in the movement of drugs (often known as ‘county lines’).
Young people are groomed into this through both online and in-person methods.
Many complex factors — like poverty, online influences and the perception that money laundering is less dangerous than other forms of crime may increase vulnerability for children and families.
Awareness is low among young people, families, and services, making it harder to identify and respond.
Responses from professionals and systems (like police and banks) are inconsistent, and the harm is often underestimated.
Banks may prioritise fraud prevention over child protection, cutting off access to vital accounts.
The impact can be severe, affecting mental health, safety, education, and future opportunities.

Implications and considerations

This research highlights that exploitative money laundering is more complex and varied than often assumed — not just online or short-term, but also involving face-to-face grooming and long-term harm. Professionals interviewed had limited confidence in tackling the issue, even though they shared rich insights, underscoring a wider lack of knowledge across the sector.

To address this growing problem, the study calls for:

More in-depth research and better definitions of child financial exploitation
Greater collaboration between banks, law enforcement, social care, and charities
Listening to young people and families to shape effective support
Training for all professionals, including in banking and policy roles

Ultimately, improving awareness, practice, and policy through research and lived experience is key to protecting young people and preventing this hidden form of exploitation.

To give the final word to the participants in this research – a plea was made to ensure that a collaborative approach is used where possible in working with parents and carers to safeguard young people:

(I would advocate) A holistic approach and engaging parents because they know about knife crime. They know about a lot of other contextual harms because there's been a great deal of emphasis on that. So, I think the same amount needs to take place with financial exploitation.

Regional Exploitation Practitioner