Australia ‘sextortion’ suspect tricked 112 underage girls to send nudes by impersonating teen social media star, police say

Name: Blind women face sexual abuse and assault in ‘respectable’ jobs as massage therapists in China
Uploaded: 2020-10-23T01:14:38.000Z
Duration: 3 min 6 s
Description: Blind women face sexual abuse and assault in ‘respectable’ jobs as massage therapists in China

Officers were tipped off by a 13-year-old girl in the United States who said a person she met online, who she thought was 15 years old, had blackmailed her

Evidence seized included chats and videos of the targeted girls ‘pleading for the man to leave them alone, detailing their distress, fear and humiliation’

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The 25-year-old man is accused of pretending to be a teen social media celebrity to befriend underage girls before blackmailing them. Photo: Shutterstock

dpain Sydney

Published: 9:14am, 23 Oct 2020Updated: 10:17pm, 23 Oct 2020

A 25-year-old man in Western Australia is set to face court on Friday after being charged with “sextortion” of 112 girls around the world, federal police said.

The man “allegedly pretended to be a teenage social media celebrity to befriend girls before blackmailing them into performing sexual acts on camera”, the Australian Federal Police said in a statement on Friday.

Police were tipped off by a 13-year-old girl in the United States who said a person she met online, who she thought was 15 years old, started asking sexually explicit questions.

She said he faked compromising chat screen shots and threatened to send the images to her family and friends unless she sent him nude pictures and engage in sexual acts.

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Blind women face sexual abuse and assault in ‘respectable’ jobs as massage therapists in China

The man faces court in Perth on dozens of criminal charges.