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Cybercrime police have arrested a man in Attica on suspicion of possessing child abuse images, recording minors engaged in sexual acts and engaging in blackmail.
Officers were acting on information that the suspect was engaged in catfishing, which is where a person creates a false identity to gain the trust of people and exploit them.
In this case, the suspect, using a female pseudonym in a virtual chatroom, encouraged a minor to perform sexual acts, which he videotaped without the minor’s knowledge. The suspect then threatened to publish the material if the minor stopped communicating with him.
Officers managed to identify the man after an exchange of information with foreign authorities.
In a search of the suspect’s home, police seized a mobile phone and a computer hard drive. During the raid, several videos were found on the devices showing child abuse material, some of which had been created a few hours previously on the suspect’s computer in individual or group video calls with minors.
The material has been forwarded for forensic analysis.
The suspect was led before a prosecutor.