The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have urged parents to be vigilant in keeping their children safe online amid a return to remote learning in metropolitan Melbourne.
The AFP said the move had led to a surge in online child exploitation reports.
AFP Commander, Jamie Strauss said during the initial lockdown period the police saw sites hosting online child sexual abuse material crashing due to the increased volume of traffic.
“Such COVID-19 child abuse forums have grown to more than 1,000 members who are sharing hundreds of videos and images and discussing their tendencies toward the abuse of children,” Commander Strauss said.
He said children were groomed, and then blackmailed to produce more and more extreme material with the fear that if they did not do it, it would be shared.
“We suspect that offenders will use this second wave of COVID-19 as an opportunity to find more potential child victims, as young people spend an increasing amount of time online with limited adult supervision,” Commander Strauss said.
“Between 1 July 2019 and 30 May, 144 people have been arrested/summonsed by the AFP with Commonwealth Child Exploitation offences and 1,078 charges laid.”
He said the most important thing families and carers could do was to start the conversation about online safety with children from an early age and to continue talking with them regularly throughout all stages of their lives.
“By the time law enforcement is called in to remove a child from harm or bring an offender to justice, it’s already too late,” Commander Strauss said.
“A child has been severely impacted, for life.”
According to research commissioned by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, only 52 per cent of parents or carers talk to their children about online safety.
