The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has uncovered 1,800 bank accounts linked to the sexual extortion (‘sextortion’) of Australian teenagers.
Sextortion is a form of online blackmail and sexual abuse.
AFP investigators said “too many victims are being blackmailed,” but noted there had been a significant drop in reports of sextortion in the first half of 2024, compared to last year.
Sextortion
Sextortion is when an offender tricks or coerces someone into sending sexual images online, before threatening to share the images unless their demands are met.
Demands can include money or more graphic content. It is a form of blackmail and sexual abuse.
According to a recent RMIT survey, one in seven people has been the victim of sextortion. Researchers also found sextortion was common in intimate partner abuse as a means “to coerce” victims.
Investigation
The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) is an AFP-led body.
The ACCCE said it received a monthly average of 93 reports of sextortion for the first half of 2024.
This number is down from an average of 300 reports per month for 2023.
Helen Schneider, AFP Commander, attributed a drop in sextortion reports to a successful national “crackdown” and “increased public awareness, especially of parents and young people themselves”.
Investigators with the national financial crime unit (AUSTRAC) have also been working with Australian banks to identify sextortion criminals.
Since 2022, Schneider said authorities have closed more than 1,800
bank accounts and digital currency accounts, “linked to offshore
organised criminals sexually extorting Australian teenagers.”
Despite a recent decrease in sextortion reports, the ACCCE remains concerned it’s “still an underreported crime,” that disproportionately impacts young people.
Young Victims
“The sad reality is that we are still receiving almost 100 reports of children in Australia being targeted by criminals every month,” Commander Schneider said.
AUSTRAC Acting National Manager Anthony Helmond called the crimes being committed against Aussie teenagers “disturbing”.
“Access to the internet and the ease of online financial transactions have put vulnerable groups worldwide within easy reach of criminals,” Helmond said.
Government
The Federal Government praised the ACCCE as a “world leader” at the forefront of combatting child exploitation.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told TDA that tech companies need “to be proactive and take steps to minimise the risks their products pose to children and young people.”
“The tech industry has a significant role to play in combatting online child sexual exploitation and abuse and we are committed to working with them on that,” Dreyfus said.
