Live stream child sex abuse among rising cybercrime — Europol
THE HAGUE: Live streaming of child sexual abuse and socalled ‘revenge porn’ is on the rise on the internet, Europe’s police agency warned yesterday, saying vulnerable children are increasingly falling victim to sexual predators.
“Live distant child abuse is being reported as a growing threat,” Europol said in its latest annual cyber organised crime threat assessment, released at its headquarters in The Hague.
Live streaming of child sex abuse “involves a perpetrator directing the live abuse of children on a ( pre-arranged) specific timeframe through video sharing platforms,” Europol said in the 72-page report.
“The abuse can be ‘ tailored’ to the requests of the soliciting offender(s) and recorded”, it added.
More generally “the volume, scope and material cost of cybercrime all remain on an upward trend and have reached very high levels,” the agency said in a separate statement.
Most illegal activities take place in the so- called ‘darknet’ or encrypted peer-to-peer networks, which offer greater degrees of anonymity to users.
Traditionally live stream child abuse groups were based in southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, but that “more recent reports indicate that it is now spreading to other countries,” Europol warned. — AFP