Predators target, blackmail kids and crash forums during COVID lockdowns

A police officer, a security guard, a tradie and a bicycle repairer were among 11 Queenslanders charged with predatory behaviour during an Australian Federal Police-led operation.

Pedophiles are blackmailing children, grooming parents and crashing dark web forums, with authorities detecting a massive spike in predatory behaviour during COVID.

A police officer, a security guard, a tradie and a bicycle repairer were among 11 Queenslanders charged during an Australian Federal Police-led operation that began late last year. But investigators in that time discovered an alarming increase in paedophile activity, both in the number of arrests and the size of their collections, during the coronavirus pandemic.

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The AFP arrested 130 offenders on 1101 charges between March and September, compared to 57 offenders on 673 charges over the same period in 2019.

And officers are now finding an average of between 10,000 and 80,000 images per arrest, compared to about 1000 in the early to mid 2000s.

Assistant Commissioner Northern Command Lesa Gale said sites hosting online child sexual abuse were crashing due to increased traffic.

“During the early stages of COVID-19 (Feb-April), the AFP witnessed traffic to dark web forums offering child abuse material more than double to the same period in 2019,” Ms Gale said.

“There continues to be a significant increase in the number of child abuse material files downloaded on the dark web, particularly since COVID-19 restrictions were implemented.

“Offenders are using the lockdown restrictions to take advantage of vulnerable children who may be spending an increased amount of time online during this period.”

Children are being targeted by predators through social networking sites, apps, or instant messaging where they are coerced into sending photographs or videos.

“Offenders are targeting parents or carers for access to children through social media,” Ms Gale said.

“Parents or carers being offered free products, or their children being asked to model clothing, are some of the means being used to groom their children.

“A child can be groomed in a matter of minutes. In some instances, we are seeing children groomed, and then blackmailed to produce more and more extreme material with the fear that if they don’t do it, it will be shared.”

The investigation, named Operation Molto, saw 44 people arrested around Australia on 350 charges. Alleged offenders were aged between 19 and 57. A total of 16 children were removed from harm, including two from Queensland.

Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton will officially open the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation in Brisbane today.

Mr Dutton said yesterday it was important work that the AFP and the ACCCE did.