A charity is launching a new leaflet urging parents to be more vigilant about what their children look at on the internet.

Figures published by NCH (National Children's Homes) indicate that within the past two years, 15 children have been raped or abused by adults they have met on the internet.

Now the NCH is calling on parents to log onto its Internet Safety site.

Sadly, as we know, while a child may think they are talking to another child, they may actually be talking to an adult

Tony Manwaring, NCH

It gives them advice on how their children can surf safely.

NCH spokesman Tony Manwaring told the BBC there were simple guidelines that both parents and their children could follow.

These included never giving out their address, their telephone number, the name of their school or any details that would enable someone else to identify them.

"Sadly, as we know, while a child may think they are talking to another child, they may actually be talking to an adult."

Mr Manwaring said one of the biggest dangers was when children got "caught up in the moment".

"While they may, at some level, have heard about some of these things that have happened to children, once they get caught up in these conversations, they forget some of the basics and they think there is something rather amazing, perhaps a bit secretive, going on and that can be quite a dangerous path to tread."

'It escalates'

The increasing use of internet chatrooms has led to paedophiles going online to "groom" or build up a relationship with children with a view to meeting them in person.

As a result, there have been calls for new laws to protect children online.

Chris Atkinson from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said: "Modern technology means once contact is made in a chat room, it escalates very quickly to a mobile phone, text messaging and eventually, face-to-face contact.

"This is why we need the government proposals."

Laws

The government has long been concerned about the growing threat of internet paedophiles who target children via the net.

The Home Office said it is looking at a range of measures to tackle paedophiles who use the internet to groom youngsters.

This would make it illegal to contact children with "harmful intent".

Such laws would also cover telephone calls, text messaging and attempting to befriend youngsters outside school gates.

Police in the West Midlands have developed software to trace people accessing sexual images of children on the internet.