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12 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2024 KARL AZZOPARDI kazzopardi@mediatoday.com.mt Inside the police war on A concerning trend is emerging in the digital gaming landscape, where child predators are ex- ploiting popular online gaming platforms like Roblox and Fort- nite to groom children. These platforms, designed for entertainment, are becoming hotspots for malicious actors targeting vulnerable minors, Superintendent Anna Maria Xuereb, who heads the police's Cyber Crime Unit (CCU), told MaltaToday. After covering several court arraignments related to the possession and distribution of child pornography, Malta- Today contacted the police to gain a deeper understanding of the issue and to explore wheth- er emerging technologies are influencing trends. Xuereb, along with Sergeant Matthew Sacco, who is respon- sible for filtering and identify- ing illegal content, explained the police's approach to these cases and the challenges in- volved in investigating such crimes. Locally, the Cyber Crime Unit handled 1,145 such cases this year, up from 1,094 in 2023 and 647 in 2022. This uptick re- flected both increased report- ing and the growing sophisti- cation of predators. Hunting the predator Xuereb and Sacco detailed how they approached investi- gations into these crimes and the limitations imposed on them. Malta's police normally launch investigations after re- ceiving reports from the Na- tional Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). "When social platforms iden- tify content related to chil- dren, they report it to NCMEC, which then forwards it to the concerned country. The coun- try's police force then conducts its investigations," Sacco ex- plained. Once the content is sent to the Malta Police, the unit anal- yses it to determine whether further investigation is needed and whether the individuals in- volved should be arraigned. However, the two explained that the police cannot proac- tively pursue offenders, as the law does not permit undercov- er operations. To gain access to child-porn trading networks, officers would be required to share content themselves, as failure to do so would result in their removal from these networks. If the police officers in Malta engaged in such trades, they would be effectively breaking the law, and so charges in court would not stand. "You have these chat boards like Reddit, where group mem- bers are required to upload content in order to remain there. But the police in Malta are not allowed by law, so any attempts to do so would be futile as you would be kicked out," Xuereb said. "Maltese law needs to change. When we network with our counterparts from other countries, they are left baffled that we cannot con- duct such operations under Maltese law." She explained that such op- erations are commonplace in other Western countries, and some even have specialised units that monitor the internet. "They patrol the internet and the dark web, and when need- ed, engage with paedophiles in order to identify and prosecute offenders." How the predator hunts The police officers explained how paedophiles use various methods and tools to groom children. Popular online games like Ro- blox and Fortnite, frequented by millions of children world- wide, have increasingly become fertile grounds for predators to exploit young players. Roblox and Fortnite are high- ly popular online platforms that allow players, primarily children and teens, to create, explore, and interact in virtu- al worlds. While designed for gaming and creativity, their social features make them vul- nerable to misuse. According to Sacco, preda- tors often use these platforms to engage with children, grad- ually building trust over time. "They win the minor's trust by offering perks like in-game currency, exclusive items, or fostering a sense of friendship. For the child, these interac- tions may start to feel normal," Sacco explained. The grooming process is often slow and deliberate, sometimes spanning months or even years. Predators use the anonymity of these games to initiate conver- sations, eventually escalating their behaviour by requesting personal information, private chats, or explicit content. "The imminent danger arises when predators begin direct communication with a child, declaring their love or even planning real-world meetings to carry out abuse," he said. Sacco said he has come across cases where paedophiles even travel to other countries to car- ry out the abuse. Xuereb also highlighted the risks of these platforms: "Pred- ators are patient and strate- gic. They exploit the interac- tive features of games to lure minors into trusting them. Grooming is not an instant process – it's methodical." No child porn produced in Malta Sacco also outlined the four main types of child pornogra- phy he has encountered: "It's macabre, that's for sure. You find content where children are engaged in sexual acts with minors, two adults perform- ing sexual acts while a child is present, adults performing sex- ual acts with children, and bes- tiality involving children." However, both Sacco and Xuereb were keen to reassure readers that they had not en- countered any child pornogra- phy produced in Malta. "What we have come across is minors, sometimes as young as five, who innocently film themselves naked and upload the video to YouTube. You- Tube obviously takes the video down immediately and sends a report to NCMEC, who then informs us. After we speak to their parents, we check their devices to ensure the content was not sent to third parties, and we clear the device, so we put their minds at rest," she