The Manager of Cybercrime Operations within the Australian Federal Police Organised Crime has thanked An Garda Síochána for their cooperation in the case of a 29-year-old man who was convicted of the online exploitation of 300 women and girls around the world, including one from Ireland.
Assistant Commissioner David McLean told RTÉ radio’s News at One that the “terrible, terrible saga” started five years ago when two young female victims raised the alarm, one in Israel and one in Canada.
The information was passed to Australian police which raised concerns and the investigation commenced which resulted in the man’s conviction.
However, the case remains open and Assistant Commissioner McLean acknowledged there could be more victims.
The perpetrator had been prolific in his use of social media platforms where he “literally searched and trolled potential victims” individually and in groups where privacy settings had not been adequately set. He posed online as “a high profile, young social media personality.”
Victims were targeted by him via friendship groups where he commenced conversations appearing to be a contact of others. Conversations would commence and then he “would lure them into increasingly sordid and sexualised conversations.
The posts and the responses, sometimes to innocuous questions, would then be edited and used to threaten the victims giving the impression that they had indeed engaged in sexual behaviour and he would then threaten and blackmail them, he explained.
The investigation had been “long, arduous and painstaking” which involved trawling through “many, many thousands of chats and videos and online logs to identify the scale of the offending, most importantly, to identify the victims so that we could then reach out to them, offer them some support, and offer them some closure on, a very, very traumatic event.
“We also wanted to find other people within the person's network. And, in doing that, we also seized videos from the offender's phone, which illustrated what he did in terms of his extortion, live stream projects, both willingly and unwillingly, the victims engaged in.”
The victims, some of them children as young as 10 years old, were from all over the world, including Ireland where there was one known victim, but Assistant Commissioner McLean said he could not say with certainty that there were no more victims.
“The investigation is ongoing in some respects, but for present purposes, the case which was closed today with the sentencing, there was one victim in Ireland.”
The perpetrator had been brought to account thanks to the cooperation of police forces all over the world including An Garda Siochana with whom Australian law enforcement had a long-standing relationship, he said.
It was important for parents and guardians to have open lines of communication with adolescents and young adults. “
If you know someone who thinks they might be a victim of sextortion, some practical, fundamental and essential first steps are to stop online conversations. Take screenshots of the conversations that have taken place. Block the accounts that you might be engaging with, and report it to the platform that you're on.”
“Seek support from friends and family. Talk to them. You know it's not the victim's fault. There is acute embarrassment. We understand that. But it's not your fault. They seek support from a friend, a family member or professional support services. Don't send any more images or engage. Don't respond to demands. And if you're worried about someone's physical safety, including your own, call the police.”
It was important for parents and guardians to play an active role in monitoring what young people were accessing on social media platforms and to provide an awareness and a safe place for conversations about online safety.
“We really can't stress that enough.”
