Australian Federal Police (AFP) have shut down more than 500 bank, financial services and digital currency accounts involved in the sexual extortion of Australian teenagers.
The AFP said international criminal syndicates were coercing children into sending sexualised images and payments to offenders posing as other young people, then blackmailing them into sending money.
The AFP's own Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has seen a 100-fold increase in reports of similar "sextortion" crimes this year compared to last, with an average of more than 100 reports over each month of 2022.
But the AFP feared the true number of victims was even higher, with low proportions of minors reporting crimes to police.
"Criminals offshore, purporting to be teenagers, are connecting with Australians online and asking for naked images and videos," the AFP said in a statement.
More than 500 Australian-based financial accounts, which had been sending money from victims to the crime syndicates offshore, have now been closed by the AFP and Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), working with the financial sector, as part of the AFP-led Operation Huntsman, which began in June this year.
The AFP said about 100 people were responsible for the accounts.
Commander Hilda Sirec described the syndicates running the scheme as "highly organised criminals".
She said no arrests had been made, and some account operators still may not know why their accounts were suspended.
She urged minors who were victims of the crime to contact police, and reassured them that they would not be in trouble.
AUSTRAC Law Enforcement and Industry National Manager Jon Brewer said individual blackmail demands were typically for amounts from $50 to $1,000, and sometimes up to $10,000, with many victims asked to foot multiple payments.
Mr Brewer said some of the 100 "money mules" operating the now-closed accounts were themselves sextortion victims who could not pay their blackmailers.
"One of the ways that the offenders will say this is, 'if you can't afford it, then use your bank account to move these funds'.
"Some of those people are victims themselves, which is why we're approaching it with a lot of sensitivity," Mr Brewer said.
He said in one case, a money mule received payments from more than 140 victims.
While no arrests have so far been made, Commander Sirec said the mass account closures were "just the beginning" of the AFP's operation.
"We're taking an early advice out knowing that Christmas is around the corner and we want to make sure that our children have the abilities to keep themselves safe.
"We will be targeting these individuals and making sure that we can provide the information to our international law enforcement so they can take action."
AFP raising awareness in high schools
The AFP is also engaging with high schools Australia-wide to raise awareness of the criminal activity.
Authorities are now working to track down the details of about 1,000 more accounts helping to move money offshore.
In a statement, the AFP said it was "extremely concerned" about the rise in reports of the organised criminal activity, labelled "sextortion".
"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," the statement said.
"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.
"Once an offender has received a compromising image, they will use it to blackmail the victim with threats to share the picture or video with the friends and family on their social media contacts list unless they pay.
"In some instances, offenders have doctored images to make the victim appear to be in even more compromising positions," the statement said.
The AFP said sextortion had been linked to cases of self-harm in Australia and overseas.
Children as young as 10 targeted
AFP data suggested more than 90 per cent of victims were male and aged between 15 and 17.
But children as young as 10 had also been targeted.
The AFP said it was unable to provide information about specific blackmail demands, but the payments tended to be sums teenagers would typically consider to be costly.
"The amount is then negotiated down to a limit the victim could pay. The demands for payment do not stop after an initial money transfer, with offenders continuing to blackmail a victim until they are blocked."
In other instances, children who had run out of money to pay had been pressured into committing crimes to foot the blackmail bill.
Commander Sirec urged parents of victims to be supportive.
"We know the offenders will try and make your child feel isolated from their trusted networks," she said.
"Your child is a victim of online child sexual exploitation and they need your support.
"These situations can be very distressing and can have long-term impacts, and need to be addressed appropriately," Commander Sirec added.
Commander Sirec said children should not pay blackmail demands as it would not make the offending stop.
