Australian Girls Influenced To Commit Acts Of Violence By Online Crime Gangs

Australian Girls Influenced To Commit Acts Of Violence By Online Crime Gangs

Australian girls are being coerced into acts of violence – against themselves, their siblings or pets by online crime networks in a twisted type of gamification, according to the police. 

“New and distributing front traditional gender-based violence”, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in a speech on Wednesday, as they set up a new taskforce to help tackle this global issue. 

In Australia, three people have been arrested and a total of nine people around the world who have similar cases.

According to Ms Barrett, the alleged perpetrators held violent extremist views and wanted to hurt people “for fun”.  

These online crime influencers target youth between their early 20s and early 30s with low self-esteem, from Western backgrounds, through gaming platforms like Roblox or messaging apps like Discord and Telegram. 

The boys and men, whom Ms Barrett calls “crimefluencers”, subscribe to a variety of ideologies – including nihilism, sadism, Nazism and satanism – and they target girls with low self-esteem and mental health disorders.

“These groups have a similar culture to multiplayer, online gaming culture, and hunt, stalk and draw in victims from a range of online platforms,” she said, adding that they may not fully understand the consequences of their behaviour.

“The motivation of individuals within these networks is not financial nor is it for sexual gratification – this is purely for their amusement, for fun, or to be popular online.”

According to Ms Barret, almost 60 alleged offenders had been identified in Australia alone, and the AFP was working with other Five Eyes nations – the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada – to target the groups.

Tech companies are also helping police develop an AI tool which will help detect emojis and slang used as code when discussing sadistic online exploitation in encrypted communications.

Ms Barrett’s speech comes as Australia prepares to introduce a world-first social media ban for kids under 16, aimed at minimising online harm. However gaming and messaging platforms are exempt from the new laws, which come into effect in December.