YOUNG Australian women are being sought by ISIS recruiters who monitor social media conversations on soft topics like cooking, fashion and even the popular Minecraft game.
The recruiters, with multiple online personalities, target young women with grievances, engaging them in conversations about schools, fashion and recipes, before moving on to serious topics.
Researcher and PhD candidate at Perth's Edith Cowan University, Dr Robyn Torok, has spent four years observing extremist online activity, collecting data from more than 5000 Facebook pages, groups and profiles.
Dr Torok has studied how young people are radicalised online and the processes used to turn an ordinary teenage girl into a would-be ISIS bride.
It can begin in Facebook groups. Dr Torok says the recruiters then watch the online behaviour of potential recruits, what they click to like and what comments they make.
"They ask questions and they are drawing out answers, and then they are liking the answers and asking more questions," Dr Torok says.
Dr Torok says some online chats lend themselves to questions and political discourse.
"The key to everything is rapport, trust and friendship," she said. Eventually it moves to non-Muslims taking the Shahadah declaration of faith and then moving them on to talk of -martyrdom."The message coming through on the encrypted apps now is the biggest way to send fear into the heartland is to do an act of terror where they live," Dr Torok said.