Nationwide police operation with the code name “Communicating vessels” to combat its effect child pornography and her revenge pornography in the Internet, carried out by the Electronic Crime Prosecution Directorate of the Hellenic Police.

For the case was formed case file of a criminal nature – against 32 people (31 Greeks and 1 foreigner), of which the 6 were arrested in the context of the automatic process, for child pornography and revenge pornography, via the Internet.

It was preceded by the appropriate use of information, from the thorough investigation and many months of analysis of which it emerged that internet users maintained access to the servers of a popular social networking page and trafficked a large amount of domestic and international material of sexual abuse of minors, as well as revenge pornography of minors and adults.

How did they act?

In particular, in terms of their mode of action:

• disclosed the material they possessed and requested communication via private messages, in order to sell or exchange the files in question,
• in order to attract more people, they openly published part of the material or even the names of minor or adult victims for whom they had relevant pornographic material. In fact, in many cases they disclosed the city of residence of the victims or matched the material they possessed to other more popular social media, so that in the future it would be possible for the recipients to communicate directly with the victims and blackmail them for receiving sums of money or for additional material,
• regularly enriched and renewed the total content of the victims’ content, so that it is convenient to constantly buy and/or exchange it on all servers.

The above material was available in exchange for sums of money ranging from 5 euros to 35 euros, so that users could obtain:

• access to all material stored on each server;
• full access to locked channels where the above material was grouped and categorized based on the victim’s personal information or by area of ​​residence and
• possibility to “download” all the material in question via hyperlinks.

The information was brought to the attention of the competent Prosecutor’s Office and an investigation followed using special investigative techniques in server channels and pornographic material that had been stored locally or in cloud computing accounts in order to locate and identify the victims.

At the same time, contact was made with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations of the US Embassy. in Athens and with the cloud computing account company, where the hyperlinks in question were published, from which electronic traces and information about the users – administrators and the users – visitors of the servers emerged.

This data was once again brought to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office and from further correspondence with internet service providers, the details of the people involved were obtained, while their place of residence was also ascertained.

What did the investigations find?

From the subsequent investigations carried out with the assistance of other police services in the period from June 16, 2023 to June 26, 2023 in the homes of those involved (in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Aigio, Corinth, Kalamata, Halkidiki, Drama, Komotini, Kastoria, Kozani, Ptolemaida, Grevena, Igoumenitsa, Corfu, Karditsa, Volos, Farsala, Aliveri, Thebes and Rhodes) in total were found and confiscated:

• -32- mobile phones,
• -39- PC hard drives,
• -3- portable storage media (USB),
• -2- memory cards, SD type,
• -11- portable PCs and
• tablets.

From the on-site investigation carried out in the digital evidence, the involvement of the individuals in the case was identified, while in many of them, a large amount of material (photos and videos) of identified – identified minor victims and adult revenge pornography was found stored locally or in cloud computing accounts, which in some cases it was identified that it was sold to other users, against specific remittances through electronic transactions, acts for which six (6) people were arrested in the context of the autoforo.

From the investigation so far they have been identified at least 30 minor victimsaged 13 to 17, as well as 10 adult victims of revenge pornography.

Those arrested, with the case file filed against them, were taken to the competent prosecutor’s office and referred to a main interrogation.

It is reminded that citizens can contact, anonymously or by name, the Electronic Crime Prosecution Directorate, in order to provide information or report illegal or fraudulent acts or activities carried out over the Internet, at the following contact details:

• Telephone: 11188
• By sending an e-mail to: [email protected]
• Via twitter: @CyberAlertGR
• Via gov.gr in the section Citizen and Everyday Life/ Complaints / Complaints about cybercrimes
• Through the application for smart phones: CYBERKID
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