Published: Sat 3 Sep 2022
Parents think their children are safe. At home, in their own bedrooms, with loving families around them, how could they possibly fall victim to sexual predators?
But there is an open door into children’s lives. Criminals are reaching out and ensnaring their victims with nothing more than an internet connection. It can happen in any home.
A new podcast episode from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) throws a spotlight on the growing threat of “self-generated child sexual abuse material” where children have been groomed and coerced by adult perpetrators into performing sexually over webcams.
The podcast, the latest episode in the IWF’s groundbreaking Pixels from a Crime Scene series, takes a look at the phenomenon with interviews from police and investigators, experts, victims, and the analysts trying to get this material off the internet.
Police experts talk candidly about the investigation into King’s Lynn roofer David Wilson who was, last year, jailed after posing as teenage girls online to extort sexual images of victims and their friends and siblings.
A few months later, Abdul Elahi was jailed for blackmailing victims, including children, into abusing themselves, siblings, and other children on camera, and selling the footage as “box sets” to other offenders. Some of his victims were as young as eight months old.
The podcast also delves into the motivations and psychology of perpetrators, as well as from a survivor of abuse who talks about the impact of this kind of coercion on victims.
The fight to remove child sexual abuse material from the internet is a global one, and the podcast also looks at some of the technological breakthroughs which are helping in the fight to keep the internet safe.
The IWF’s new Intelligrade hashing system is already helping streamline international efforts to keep children safe and make sure the criminals who would exploit children in this way do not have anywhere to hide.
Search ‘Pixels from a Crime Scene’ on your podcast player of choice or listen here.
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