{"id":8102,"date":"2023-09-06T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.childrescue.org.nz\/?p=8102"},"modified":"2024-05-24T04:36:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:36:57","slug":"osec-team-takes-down-crime-syndicate-in-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.childrescue.org.nz\/blog\/osec-team-takes-down-crime-syndicate-in-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"OSEC Team Takes Down Crime Syndicate in Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In February 2023, Destiny Rescue’s (an organisation whose rescue work in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines Child Rescue helps fund) new tool in the battle against <\/span>OSEC<\/span><\/a> was put to the test.<\/span><\/h5>\n

A tip-off hotline in Thailand produced a lead: someone was advertising the sale of horrific media on X (formerly Twitter). For a monthly fee, members could join an online group for access to thousands of videos and images of children being sexually abused.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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One in five children in Thailand are at risk of being exploited online<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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But the police were inundated with cases when the tip came in; there simply wasn\u2019t enough manpower available to verify the tip without neglecting ongoing cases, much less tracking down suspects or victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Scientia stepped in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientia is more than just a software suite.<\/span><\/a> Destiny Rescue’s new fully-staffed program efficiently and thoroughly sorts through terabytes of data, equipping on-site investigators with the evidence they need to incriminate traffickers as we simultaneously locate and rescue exploited kids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stepping into the dark<\/span><\/h2>\n

Since the police had no bandwidth to launch an investigation, the Scientia team filled that gap by <\/span>building a case for them<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They were granted authorisation to immediately get to work thanks to <\/span>an agreement we signed with Thailand\u2019s government<\/span><\/a>. Caleb, one of Destiny Rescue’s rescue agents specialising in OSEC cases, went undercover online. After creating a fake profile, he joined the heinous group.<\/span><\/p>\n

What the team found was appalling.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was no small, tight-knit band of twisted individuals. The group was actually one of four connected accounts run by six kingpins who\u2019d organised the entire system. It had <\/span>thousands<\/span><\/i> of members from nearly every district in Thailand.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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OSEC cases can be long and laborious, with agents spending hundreds of hours building rapport with perpetrators, verifying abuse and analysing every tiny detail while attempting to determine the location of every single victim <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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And the network was sharing <\/span>over 50,000<\/b> files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). They depicted victims as young as<\/span> 2 years old.<\/b><\/p>\n

Using Scientia\u2019s powerful software tools, the team began the laborious process of connecting fake accounts to real identities so the criminals could be identified. But they didn\u2019t stop there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thwarting traffickers is one of Destiny Rescue’s top priorities, but their primary goal is <\/span>rescuing children<\/b> from sexual exploitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding the victims<\/span><\/h2>\n

While most of the videos shared in the group were essentially re-posts from other websites, about a quarter of them were newer\u2014these videos were getting posted to the group almost as soon as they were recorded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Agent Caleb said that to create these videos, abusers \u201cwould directly target the children and manipulate these children into doing things on camera by coercion or threat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Social media and instant messaging platforms are among the most popular online activities for children in Thailand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Predators would contact kids online, primarily through Instagram, and worm their way into the children\u2019s lives. <\/span>Using various means<\/span><\/a>, they\u2019d deceive the kids into thinking they could be trusted before eventually soliciting sexual media from the children, entrapping them. Once exploited, these kids were constantly badgered for more videos and ensnared by the threat that the traffickers would expose the images to friends or family if they failed to comply.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next step was the most gut-wrenching. To identify the victims in the videos, agents had to watch them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caleb said the task of finding the children was both daunting and sickening: \u201cWe watched thousands of videos because\u2026 we don\u2019t know, firstly, the nationality of these children. They could be from anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They knew the children were actively being abused but had no way of knowing where the children lived, how old they were or even their names. This is where the professionals on the Scientia team showed the team\u2019s incredible value.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our local Thai investigators actually poured through thousands of videos and plucked out every single piece of evidence they could,\u201d Caleb said. \u201cThey actually put names to every one of these kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Destroying the syndicate<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once the team had amassed enough evidence to build a case, they presented their findings to the Royal Thai Police (RTP).<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Earlier this year, Destiny Rescue held an OSEC training with the RTP<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Upon receiving the evidence, the police acted fast. After verifying our findings, they quickly got warrants for the kingpins of the organised crime network.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Officers executed the warrants swiftly, arresting all the leaders before one could inform the others that they\u2019d been found out. Every suspect had large quantities of CSAM on them at the time of arrest. Their network was dismantled, and the websites shut down.<\/span><\/p>\n

An unconventional rescue<\/span><\/h2>\n

With the crime leaders out of the way, their team immediately began efforts to rescue the exploited children we\u2019d managed to identify.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But this didn\u2019t look like a normal rescue operation. Unlike traditionally trafficked children, they weren\u2019t being forced to work in a bar or held against their will. All of these exploited children were <\/span>still at home<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean the victims weren’t vulnerable. Traffickers targeted kids from broken homes or children who were grossly neglected. Some of them were left to their own devices (literally) all day, giving predators ample opportunity to <\/span>manipulate them online.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Scientia team coordinated with Thailand\u2019s child services division to make the children safe. As soon as they provided officials with the names and addresses of the kids, social workers went to their homes and removed them from harm.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Scientia is a full-service investigative system unlike any other, and it\u2019s pulling back the curtain on traffickers<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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All 25 children<\/b> we identified were rescued. The youngest was just <\/span>6 years old.<\/b><\/p>\n

The kids were referred to shelters where they were gently interviewed about their experience and began healing from the trauma they\u2019d experienced. And, despite never meeting their abusers in person, the psychological and emotional damage was profound.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those stories that were told by those kids were very heartbreaking,\u201d Caleb said. \u201cOne who was severely depressed contemplated suicide. Others had been just recently from a broken home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A new thread<\/span><\/h2>\n

But the interviews also revealed something more: this case was far from over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those interviews uncovered a surprising fact: many of the children were being trafficked online from <\/span>multiple sources. <\/span><\/i>While the ring they\u2019d targeted had been dismantled, these poor kids revealed that those criminals weren\u2019t the only ones exploiting them: foreign traffickers were too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That information led the Scientia team to shift their focus. Caleb said they\u2019re now looking outside Thailand and toward the United States and Europe, not for victims, but for offenders. \u201cWesterners are approaching these children and tapping into the same vulnerabilities,\u201d Caleb said.<\/span><\/p>\n

While this information is appalling, it’s not really surprising.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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According to the Internet Watch Foundation, the United States hosts more CSAM sites than any other country on the planet <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Children in other nations may be suffering online abuse at higher rates, but offenders in Western countries are disproportionately driving the demand for the abhorrent material.<\/span><\/p>\n

And a new target<\/span><\/h2>\n

But these predators may not be as safe as they think. Destiny Rescue’s agents, backed by the power of the Scientia system, are committed to hunting the abusers down, no matter where they call home. Undaunted by the ocean between his team and the offenders, Caleb said that \u201ca number of foreigners we\u2019re now targeting as a result of the abuse of those children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

OSEC is an enormous problem, and it\u2019s only growing. As long as demand increases in this sickening trade, traffickers will keep seeking out vulnerable kids to exploit. But perhaps when this team and other like-minded NGOs (non-governmental organisations) help to equip police to arrest perpetrators half a world away, Destiny Rescue can start helping take down criminals in the demand for this hideous trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until then, Destiny Rescue’s teams will keep doing what they always have: <\/span>rescuing kids<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n