‘Sextortion’ probe leads to NZer’s arrest

A MANAWATU man has been arrested for trying to extort sexual pictures of Canadian children online, and police suspect there may also be victims in New Zealand.

New Zealand police charged Keith Jock Wickliffe with blackmail after joining a 19-month-long investigation by Canadian authorities.

Police say two young girls in New Zealand were also identified as alleged victims.

According to Canadian news reports, the country’s Internet Child Exploitation unit launched an investigation in May 2013 when they received a complaint from a 16-yearold girl from London, Ontario.

Canadian police are reported as saying the girl began communicating with a stranger online and was convinced to share inappropriate images of herself.

The suspect then allegedly tried to extort the girl into performing sexually explicit acts online. The girl refused and police were contacted.

Canadian police tracked the suspect to New Zealand and last month police here executed a search warrant at Wickliffe’s home, Canadian online news source CTV News London reported.

The police Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand (OCEANZ) investigative unit earlier this year defined such offending as ‘‘sextortion’’. They said it was an issue they were encountering weekly and they were dealing with victims as young as 8.

Police told of blackmailing scenarios in which offenders would create fake social media profiles to befriend youngsters and, once they had gained their trust, would request mildly sexual photographs.

The predator would use those photographs for ‘‘sextortion’’ – threatening to leak them unless more explicit material was provided.

Last year, Wellington man Graham MacDonald Young, then 60, was jailed for making and possessing objectionable material. He created a fake online persona using photos of former Shortland Street actor Adam Rickitt to persuade a 13-year-old girl in New York to send pictures of herself to him.