The AFP is warning parents and guardians over a concerning online trend emerging in Australia involving young victims who are being coerced into producing extreme sexual and violent content over the internet.
Sadistic sextortion is a rising online crime type that involves extreme online groups targeting children as young as twelve years old on social media and messaging platforms to coerce them to self-produce explicit material to gain acceptance into extreme online communities.
These online communities use different names and monikers to operate on social media or messaging platforms and consist of members worldwide. To gain access to a majority of these groups, prospective members are coerced by group members to produce or live-stream explicit content online.
In some cases, the offenders are the same age as the victims being targeted.
AFP intelligence has identified that sadistic sextortion offenders will initiate an online relationship with a victim on social media or messaging platforms before encouraging them to produce an image or video performing an explicit sexual or violent act.
The offender will then share the content with other members in the online group, who will attempt to extort the victim by threatening to share the material with their family or friends unless the victim produces more videos and extreme content.
The offender will relentlessly demand more content from victims that often continues to escalate in its seriousness, including specific live sex acts, animal cruelty, serious self-harm, and live online suicide.
The Western Australia Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET) commenced an investigation into reports of an alleged serious sadistic sextortion offender in WA, 14, accused of targeting victims around the world in 2022.
Police seized the offender’s phone and later identified child abuse material (CAM) and videos of animal cruelty.
The offender was charged and received a juvenile caution in relation to the matter.
AFP Commander of Human Exploitation and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) Helen Schneider said intelligence received by the ACCCE suggested most offenders in extreme online groups were not motivated by money but were instead focused on obtaining status or notoriety within the group.
“Unlike sextortion, these offenders are not motivated by financial gain. Instead, they are driven by exploiting vulnerable victims into producing abhorrent content for their deranged amusement,” Commander Schneider said.
“Unfortunately, some victims in these groups do not see themselves as victims. They do not believe they are being coerced into performing these extremely horrific acts and, therefore, are unlikely to report it to the authorities.
“Without information or assistance from victims and members of the public, it can be extremely difficult for police to identify offenders and shut down these dangerous groups.”
Commander Schneider said the AFP urged parents and guardians to be aware of the warning signs of young people being groomed by coercive groups online.
‘If parents believe their child is engaging in harmful activity online, it’s important to have a conversation with them to understand the situation and provide appropriate support,” Commander Schneider said.
“Warning signs children may be engaging in harmful activity online may include increased screen-time on computers or phones, isolating themselves from friends and family or being secretive about who they are interacting with online.
“Whether a child is or has been a victim of sextortion online, please reassure them it’s not their fault and report it to the ACCCE.”
