The State Police has executed two precautionary measures against a man and a woman believed to be responsible for having broadcast live on the Internet, for payment, sexual abuse committed against minors.
This criminal phenomenon is known as “Live Streaming Child Abuse”The authors, of Filipino nationality, received payments via PayPal accounts traceable to European users to allow them to watch live video “shows”, consisting of real sexual abuse of minors, commissioned in real time by the interested users.
Among the users involved was also an Italian citizen who, between 2019 and 2020, had made payments to purchase pre-recorded videos and live shows featuring minors.
The investigation began with an operation conducted by the National Center for the Fight against Online Child Pornography (CNCPO) and coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Milan.
The report of suspicious financial transactions came via the Guardia di Finanza from the Financial Information Unit (UIF) of the Bank of Italy and was subsequently confirmed by Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) US in the context of international police cooperation focused on a network of actors involved in Live Streaming Child Abuse.
Last November, the Postal Police of Milan had carried out, on behalf of the local Prosecutor's Office, a home and computer search on the devices seized from one of the suspects. The detailed forensic analysis revealed important evidence against not only the latter but also his wife of Philippine nationality.
Filipino couple arrested for abusing their children
During the period in which she lived abroad, the woman, part of the aforementioned criminal network, broadcast live, for a fee, videos depicting sexual abuse committed against her two minor children.
The coordinated investigative effort led to the issuing of the precautionary measure of detention in prison for the man, while precautionary measures were adopted for the woman such as the obligation to report to the judicial police and the ban on leaving the country.
The precautionary measures were carried out by the staff of the CNCPO and the Cyber Security Operations Section of Varese.
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Article published on 16 December 2023 - 07:47
