A 29-year-old Australian was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty in December 2023 in one of the worst sextortion cases in history, reports Ars Technica. The Perth man pretended to be a famous underage YouTuber, manipulated chat messages and blackmailed 286 victims, including 180 minors, from 20 different countries, including Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Italy, Israel, among others. Japan, Namibia, New Zealand. The victims were to perform explicit sexual acts in front of the camera or in the video and also for other unknown people.
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The culprit posed as a famous teen YouTuber
The offender contacted the young women through social media whose friend lists were visible. After gaining the victims’ trust, he induced them to share explicit material. He then blackmailed them into sending the footage to their family and friends unless they provided more explicit videos. In some cases it must be According to information received from Australian news portal ABC News Have exchanged ideas with other criminals in groups about which accounts are behind potential victims or about other strategies.
According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) It is one of the worst sextortion cases in history. The perpetrator was sentenced to 17 years in prison and cannot be released on parole until 2033 at the earliest. His demands are said to be outrageous and sometimes involved other young family members, As reported by ABC. According to ABC, he is also said to have put even more pressure on his victims with countdowns. Some victims committed suicide as a result of the blackmail.
Cooperation between police officers
AFP worked for it As per the announcement worked closely with US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Interpol to investigate the sextortion case. The investigation began in 2019. Police also worked with international law enforcement agencies to identify victims. At that time, police seized a cell phone, hard drive and USB stick. According to AFP, he had already come to the attention of the Western Australia Police Force (WAPF) in another case of child exploitation.
Various cases of sextortion
The police regularly issue warnings about such and similar cases. The perpetrators often pose as women and often force male victims to perform sexual acts in front of the camera in order to later blackmail them with the material. In early 2014, Interpol reported that it was estimated that hundreds of thousands of Internet users around the world had already fallen victim to similar blackmail.
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