More than 500 Australian bank, financial services and digital currency accounts linked to offshore organised criminals sexually extorting Australian teenagers have been shut down under a multi-jurisdictional, AFP-led operation.
The AFP and AUSTRAC, working with the financial sector, have facilitated the closure of the bank accounts, which are held in Australia but are linked to international organised crime syndicates.
Today, it can be revealed AFP-led Operation Huntsman, which started in June 2022, is targeting Australian-based, sextortion bank accounts, which are sending money from distressed victims to offshore syndicates.
Sextortion involves the coercion of child victims into sending sexualised images and payments to offenders online through the offender pretending to be another young person.
The AFP is extremely concerned about this trend, which has been linked to instances of self-harm in Australia and one overseas.
The AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has recorded an average of more than 100 reports of this type of sextortion every month this year, which is a 100-fold increase from the past year.
Police fear the true number of victims in Australia is much higher with conservative estimates indicating that less than a quarter of minors report to police.
Operation Huntsman has led to disruptive action against more than 100 people operating over 500 Australian bank accounts involved in moving money to the offshore criminals.
Similar action is pending against hundreds of more people as authorities work with industry to obtain the details of more than 1000 Australian bank and financial services accounts that are facilitating the flow of money out of the country.
Criminals offshore, purporting to be teenagers, are connecting with Australians online and asking for naked images and videos.
Once some images are shared, predators are demanding victims pay to keep them from being shared publicly or with family or friends.
AFP intelligence, covert online operatives and AUSTRAC are targeting criminals in Australia and offshore to ensure they face a hostile online environment, taking away their ability to move money offshore, gained through targeting and exploiting Australian children.
The AFP is also working with domestic and international law enforcement partners on a number of onshore and offshore investigations.
Offenders have traditionally been involved in this crime for sexual gratification, however, the offshore criminal networks driving the new surge in cases are seeking to profit financially from the victims.
AFP Commander Hilda Sirec said data showed more than 90 per cent of victims were male and predominantly 15-17 years of age, however police had seen victims as young as 10 years old.
“We are experiencing a global trend of offshore crime syndicates targeting teenagers, predominantly young men and boys, being coercing into sending sexually explicit content and then blackmailing them,” Commander Sirec said.
“The financial action that we have undertaken with Operation Huntsman so far is just the beginning; we will target and disrupt these offenders operating offshore, wherever they hide.
“The AFP’s partnership with AUSTRAC and our relationship with international law enforcement partners all over the world means these networks are not safe from our reach.”
AUSTRAC National Manager, Law Enforcement & Industry, Jon Brewer, said that criminal syndicates were exploiting young Australians for their own financial gain.
“Criminal syndicates are driven by the financial gains they can achieve through exploiting vulnerable members of our community,” he said.
“As Australia’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC is uniquely placed to identify suspicious financial transactions that underpin crimes, including sextortion. The tradecraft and agility of our analysts enable AUSTRAC to follow the money as it crosses borders and financial and digital ecosystems.”
“The financial intelligence which we uncover and share with law enforcement partners in Australia and overseas trigger tangible flow on actions, including the identification of bank and financial service accounts associated with sexual extortion.
“AUSTRAC is also leveraging our close partnership with industry to increase the capability of industry partners to recognise suspicious transactions indicative of sexual exploitation, and to report this to AUSTRAC.”
The offshore criminal syndicates are blackmailing teenagers with threats to share their content unless they send the offenders money, gift cards or online gaming credits.
The offending often starts with a direct message on social media but can escalate very quickly once a victim has engaged.
The teenage victim is usually asked to continue chatting on a different app where the conversation becomes highly sexualised and the victim is coerced into self-generating child abuse material.
