'Talk to your children': Gardaí warn that kids can easily be snared by online abusers

Gardaí plead with parents to set sensible ground rules as they detail their work tracking down social media sexual abusers and blackmailers

Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen (right) of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau tells of his experience of the real-world impacts of online child sexual abuse as Det Chief Supt Colm Noonan of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau listens. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos.

Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen has had personal experience of the real-world impacts of online child sexual abuse.

“I previously worked in another jurisdiction. I investigated an incident of sextortion where a young man was engaging with what appeared to be — what he thought was — an attractive young lady, but in fact wasn’t,” the officer with the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) says