top of page
PresentationPage.png
Presentation:

'Characteristics of financial transactions of live stream offenders

Live streaming of child sexual abuse (CSA) is a technologically and financially enabled crime, in which individuals make financial payments to watch, and often direct, the abuse of children across online video streaming platforms. Due to its nature, little tangible evidence of this offence exists beyond a financial transaction and locally stored metadata from the live streaming session. This research analyses the financial transactions of individuals who paid money to known facilitators of live streaming CSA in the Philippines. Using a machine learning approach, we analyse these financial transactions alongside the demographic characteristics and criminal histories of offenders, to understand whether there are any typologies present among these offenders, or whether they are all similar. We then focus on the financial transactions used to procure live streaming of CSA to determine the key characteristics that could be used to differentiate them from other types of financial transactions, and in particular, the characteristics of individuals who will go on to procure a high volume of live streaming sessions (more than 20). The findings of this research offer insights into the characteristics, offence histories, and presence of typologies among individuals who live streaming CSA. This research also offers insight into the types of financial transactions used to procure live streaming of CSA, the degree to which they vary, and indicators of risk that an individual may go on to procure a large number of live streaming sessions.

Dr Michael Salter.jpg

Australian Institute of Criminology

Dr Heather Wolbers

Bio - Rouse.jpg

bottom of page