AFP charge man with child abuse crimes targeting girls in USA and UK
A Sri Lankan national living in Melbourne has been charged with “sextortion” crimes after a tip-off from the FBI and London Metropolitan Police.
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A Melbourne man has been charged with shocking “sextortion” crimes targeting young girls in the United States and United Kingdom.
The 23-year-old Sri Lankan national allegedly set up fake social media accounts which he used to gain the trust of two victims aged 12 and 14.
Both girls sent explicit images and videos of themselves to the man who allegedly threatened to send them to the girls’ friends and family if they did not send more content.
When the girls refused his demands, he allegedly leaked the photos to the victims’ loved ones and sent dozens of texts threatening to “ruin their lives” if they failed to comply.
Australian Federal Police arrested the man at his home in Doveton on Friday and charged him with 17 child abuse offences.
He was bailed to face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 18.
Federal police began investigating him in April after receiving tip-offs from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and London Metropolitan Police.
Investigators traced the threatening messages to his former home in Burwood where several digital devices were seized in June.
AFP Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling said child exploitation can have devastating lifelong impacts on victims.
“In this case, not only are they victims of self-produced child exploitation material, but it has been doubly weaponised against them to facilitate so-called sextortion,” she said.
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