Source: Ministry of the Interior
Contact with the minor through an online game
After starting a relationship remotely, the minor was extorted to send images of a sexual nature
He is credited with the alleged responsibility of the crime of sexual abuse
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia an investigation to clarify a supposed extortion to a minor coerced to provide images of a sexual nature, which has resulted in the investigation of the alleged perpetrator of the criminal acts investigated.
The operation began at the end of last year, when members of the Benemérita were alerted by a woman that her daughter was suffering a series of coercion and threats in order to obtain images of sexual content.
Apparently, the victim’s mother detected the facts when trying to solve a problem with her daughter’s mobile phone. When he unlocked the device, he noticed that messages were entering whose contents alarmed him. The sender of the messages was a person that the daughter had met through an online game.
After maintaining the first contact through the game, the now investigated asked the victim for his phone number and they started talking about messaging applications, initiating a brief remote relationship in which, from the first moment, he had requested photographs and videos of sexual content.
The girl admitted to her mother that she had agreed to send some intimate photographs to the one she considered her boyfriend but, when she detected several deceptions about his identity, she decided to stop sending him more images and end the relationship.
Given the refusal of the girl, the author of the facts changed his attitude and went on to demand photographs and videos of a sexual nature using a threatening tone in his messages. From the investigation developed it is clear that the child came to feel intimidated and coerced, since she did not know what the alleged perpetrator could do with the compromised material that she already had in her possession.
In this case, the intervention of the mother of the minor has been crucial to put an end to the extortion with lustful spirit to which the victim was being subjected.
Once the operation began, the civil guards carried out a series of investigations that allowed them to identify and locate the suspect in the town of Torrevieja, Alicante, who has been investigated and who has been instructed to act as an alleged offender. sexual abuse.
The investigated and the diligences instructed have been made available to the Court of Instruction of Cartagena and the Office of Minors of Murcia.
Main risks faced by minors in the network
– Grooming, is the cyberbullying of an adult towards a minor for sexual purposes or to obtain images of a sexual nature of the child in the case of pedophiles, or even to maintain real sexual contact with the child, in the case of pedophiles
– Cyberbulling, is the cyberbullying among equals in the school environment. The minor is harassed through social networks and mobile messaging programs. In this case, both the victim and the person responsible for the criminal activity is a minor (law 5/2000 criminal responsibility of minors over 14 years of age).
– Sexting, is the sending of images of a sexual nature within a relationship between adolescents. It becomes a danger when the relationship is broken and the images are used to harass the ex-partner.
– Identity theft, it is widely used taking advantage of weak or predictable passwords of your social networks, or obtaining them through social engineering. They use profiles to pass themselves off as minors in social networks in order to harass other minors or use their profiles in online games.
recommendations
The Civil Guard, within the framework of the preventive actions set out in the Master Plan for the Coexistence and Improvement of Safety in Educational Centers and their Environments, has been carrying out a series of training actions including talks on new technologies or the risks derived from an improper use of the internet, aimed at schoolchildren, teachers and AMPA’s.
They warn that both new information and communication technologies and the internet should not be a simple game or a mere entertainment and not a way to meet friends. It should be understood as a work tool, offering, among others, the following security measures:
Do not disclose personal data or third parties to anyone. If done, do it as safely as possible in a known environment. Once a photograph, video or simple information is «hung», you lose all control over it.
Do not accept or add as contacts to strangers.
Do not provide passwords; He who is a friend today may not be tomorrow.
Do not answer emails from strangers.
If prog is used branches to share music, movies, etc., keep in mind that the folders used by the program are available to millions of users.
Control who can see your profile and post on your wall. Customize privacy settings: «only my friends».
In short, do not do on the internet what you would not do in real life.
Internet use tips
On the internet we must use logic and common sense, as we would in real life. The consequences of misuse of the network go beyond the virtual plane, and can generate serious real consequences.
On the internet, not everyone is who they say they are. Sometimes they use techniques, social engineering among others, to obtain our most precious treasure, our privacy and personal data.
In computers connected to the internet we must have updated not only the operating systems, antivirus and firewalls, but also all the programs that are used in the network, browsers, plugins (java), etc. With this we will give solution to the vulnerabilities that are appearing. Remember that the best antivirus is behind our keyboard, we ourselves are our worst vulnerability, but also our best antivirus.
Not only do we have to protect our equipment, we must also protect our Wi-Fi network to avoid non-consensual access to it and thus avoid possible criminal activities from our connection. Remember that if they access our Wi-Fi network, not only do we lose speed in the connection, but they can easily access our equipment.
For all the services that need it, we will use robust passwords (more than 8 alphanumeric characters combined with a symbol). Easy to remember for us but impossible to deduce for the cybercriminal. Avoid using the same for all our accounts, and renew them every so often.
We must protect our privacy in the network, avoiding making unnecessary data public, which may harm us now or in the future.
In our transactions and purchases through the network we will be cautious to make them from safe sites, avoiding trap advertisements. As for transactions with our bank, we will always do so from a secure connection (https), distrusting any communication that reaches us by email (SPAM and PHISHING).
We will pay attention to the downloads that we make, always making them from the official web pages of the products that we need, with which we will avoid being infected with malware camouflaged in fake antivirus (rogues) or that our equipment is trojanized with any type of malware (zombie) . We will also navigate on trusted websites to avoid unwanted infections (Ransomware virus from the Police).
We will promote good practices in the network towards minors, educating them and informing them of the dangers that can be found in the network, urging them to have their family in case of the slightest problem.
Remember that the internet is not just the PC: we must take the same precautions from tablets and smartphones.