Australian girls are being hunted by online crime networks and coerced into acts of violence - against themselves, their siblings, or pets - in a twisted type of gamification, police have warned.
A new taskforce has been set up to help tackle this new and disturbing front in traditional gender-based violence, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in a speech on Wednesday.
Three people have already been arrested in Australia, and another nine globally.
The nature of the acts being committed by targets was not detailed, but Ms. Barrett stated that the alleged perpetrators hold violent extremist views and want to hurt people for fun.
Aged in their late teens or early 20s and coming largely from Western backgrounds, these attackers recruit pre-teen or teenage girls through platforms like Roblox and messaging apps such as Discord and Telegram.
These individuals, dubbed crimefluencers by Ms. Barrett, subscribe to various ideologies including nihilism, sadism, Nazism, and satanism, targeting girls who are vulnerable due to low self-esteem and mental health issues.
These groups have a culture similar to that of multiplayer online gaming, and they hunt, stalk, and draw in victims from a range of platforms, she remarked, noting that victims may not comprehend the consequences of their actions.
Unlike other criminal motivations, the behaviors exhibited by these networks are not for financial gain or sexual gratification, but rather for amusement or to gain social popularity.
Nearly 60 alleged offenders have been identified in Australia alone. The AFP is collaborating with other Five Eyes nations - the US, UK, New Zealand, and Canada - to address these groups effectively.
Tech companies are also cooperating with police to develop an AI tool designed to detect emojis and slang used as code for sadistic online exploitation in encrypted communications.
The urgency surrounding these issues comes as Australia prepares to introduce a groundbreaking social media ban for children under the age of 16, aimed at reducing online harm. However, gaming and messaging platforms are exempt from this new legislation set to take effect in December.
