Gardaí identify 55 child sex abuse victims amid 'sadistic rise' in online threat

A new report says criminals are leveraging AI to produce hyper-realistic 'deepfake' images and videos to manipulate or blackmail children for the purposes of online sexual abuse

Gardaí said financial sexual extortion, whereby perpetrators coerce minors into sharing explicit material and subsequently demand payment to prevent its release, has emerged as 'a rapidly escalating threat'. 

Fifty-five child victims of online sexual abuse have been identified and safeguarded in Ireland over the past 15 months, gardaí have said.

Since July of last year, the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) specialist victim identification team has been reviewing child sexual abuse and exploitation videos and images extracted from electronic devices in an effort to identify victims in Ireland and internationally.