Hundreds of accounts being used by overseas criminals to transfer money from Australian child victims of sexual exploitation have been frozen by police and the anti-money laundering watchdog.
The Australian Federal Police says the 500 bank, financial service and cryptocurrency accounts were used to transfer funds from victims, mainly boys aged 15 to 17, to criminals offshore.
Offenders posing as young people online first coerce the children into sharing naked photos and videos of themselves online then threaten to share the material publicly, or with the victims' families and friends, unless the victims pay.
AFP Commander Hilda Sirec is extremely concerned about the surging new trend of offenders profiting financially from victims, which has been linked to self-harm incidents in Australia and overseas.
"So last year we received maybe one or two, up to three, reports each month. This year alone it's greater than 100," she told reporters.
"It's concerning, very concerning, which is why we are coming out very early to make sure that we provide the education and prevention messaging out there."
No arrests have been made.
Some of the frozen accounts belong to victims, with a number of them used by victims themselves to exploit other children under coercion by the criminals.
Ms Sirec said the AFP was working with state and territory police to gather evidence to share with international law enforcement agencies.
"This is just the beginning of our disruptive action," she said.
"We're taking early advice about knowing that Christmas is around the corner and we want to make sure that children have the ability to keep themselves safe."
The AFP said offenders posing as young people were directly messaging victims on social media before asking them to move the conversation to a different app, where the child is convinced to make child sexual exploitation images or videos.
The criminal then blackmails the victim into paying to stop them from publishing or sharing the image with people they know, and in some cases the material is doctored to make the child appear in an even more compromising position.
The offender and the victim then bargain over the payment amount, but Ms Sirec warned children not to send money because the blackmail continues even after payments are made.
She says in some cases young victims had even been coerced into committing crimes to get funds for payments after they had run out of money.
"The message is, stop, don't send the money, make sure that you take screen captures of the messaging that's happening, block the contact and immediately seek help, make a report, tell your parents, tell police, tell the ACCCP.gov.au website," the AFP commander said.
"But importantly for children (the message) is that you will be believed, and you won't be in trouble."
Ms Sirec also pleaded with parents and carers to be supportive if children came forward as offenders worked hard to make their victims feel psychologically isolated from their families and friends.
"Your child is a victim of online child sexual exploitation and they need your support," she added.
"These situations can be very distressing and can have long-term impacts, and need to be addressed appropriately."
