Coronavirus: shock at rise in online predators

Online child sex abuse has more than doubled since the coronavirus outbreak.

Parents have been advised to monitor their children’s online activity in light of an increase in dark web child abuse.

Online child sex abuse has more than doubled since the corona­virus outbreak, prompting the government to launch a national campaign warning parents to strictly monitor child activities at home during school closures.

The disturbing rise in child grooming and exploitation on the web since February comes amid the emergence of COVID-19-themed child abuse forums — some with more than 1000 members — sharing videos and images between pedophiles.

PDF: 7-day Family Online Safety Challenge
The move to raise the alarm for families follows one of the largest police operations into web-based child sex abuse that took two years and netted 16 Australians, who were charged with 738 offences, earlier this year. According to the Australian Federal Police, ­another 23 people have been charged with 140 web-based child abuse offences since March 9.

The Australian understands that the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation’s triage unit had been inundated over the past month with reports from the community about children being targeted online by pedophiles seeking to make contact.

The grooming attempts ­occurred across a range of platforms including social networking, video and image sharing, gaming and instant messaging apps.

The AFP data shows the amount of child abuse material shared on the darknet between February and March had doubled from this time last year.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton will launch a national campaign on Monday to inform parents and carers to be especially vigilant in monitoring their children’s online activity while the states continue with school closures, resulting in many young people spending up to five hours a day on the internet.

The ACCCE is also understood to have uncovered child abuse ­forums established as a result of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions that have driven more users onto the darknet.

The AFP said COVID-19 messaging was being used in the title of child-sex abuse forums, with the ACCCE identifying an increase in users who were saying they were new to the darknet and were seeking advice and guidance on how to post child exploitation images and videos within hidden services.

There was an increase in the number of users claiming they were posting child abuse material within the darknet for the first time. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the holiday period present ­online safety challenges for children and young people, such as ­online grooming, unwanted contact and image-based abuse, as they spend more time online with the possibility of limited adult supervision,” Mr Dutton said.

“Children are potentially at ­further risk due to their isolation from schools, friends and community members who would otherwise be able to assist in mandatory reporting.

“My message to online child sex offenders is simple: we are watching, and if you offend against children physically or by engaging them online, we will find and charge you to the full force of the law.

“The government is doing everything within its power to prevent online child sexual exploitation, but it’s not enough — we need parents and carers to play a lead role in protecting children.”

The campaign will be spearheaded by the ACCCE and the ThinkUKnow program, with a resource pack alerting parents to tasks over seven days to ensure the safety of children online, including ­reviewing privacy settings, researching the apps and games children use and creating an online family safety contract.

The Australian last week reported that a global child exploitation sting triggered by a US Department of Homeland Security investigation had rescued four Australian children as young as two months old who were used to produce and exchange child rape videos and images through online pedophile networks. It led to the arrest by the AFP of the 16 charged with 738 child exploitation and sexual abuse offences.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw had warned of a spike in traffic across the so-called dark web — including live-streaming and incidents of child sexual abuse and child grooming — since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

“This type of offending has no borders,” Mr Kershaw said last week.

“It is very hard to explain to a society, to people who don’t see the images … these involve images like you’ve never seen before.”
For more information on the 7-day Family Online Safety Challenge visit the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation website.