POLICE are launching a new campaign to educate young people about the dangers of county lines crime.

The Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) has funded an advertising campaign for popular social media platforms TikTok and Snapchat.

Advertisements will be featured on both sites directing users to Fearless.org, which allows people to find out more about county lines crime and highlights the risks of predatory criminals poaching young people online.

The campaign starts today and runs for four weeks until January 16, 2022.

Detective inspector Mark Catney said: “Campaigns such as this help educate young people and steer them away from being potentially exploited by criminals.

“Young people will often be taken in with the promise of a glamorous lifestyle and expensive gifts.

“The reality is they are being groomed into a life of exploitation and the criminals will quickly show their true colours using physical and sexual violence to get what they want.

“Young people caught up in their web will then find they are the ones forced to commit serious crimes (usually drug dealing).

“If children and young people know how to spot the signs of grooming then they are less likely to be involved.”