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AFP, ANZ team up to fight child sexual abuse

Big four bank ANZ will assist the AFP’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation in tracking criminal financial transactions.

user icon David Hollingworth
Tue, 25 Jun 2024
AFP, ANZ team up to fight child sexual abuse
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The Australian Federal Police has announced a new partnership with ANZ to “target and disrupt” child sex offenders.

Under the letter of exchange, signed by both parties today (25 June), ANZ specialists will embed within the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), assisting the centre with tracking financial transactions and accounts related to criminal activity.

The real-time tracking partnership is the first of its kind, with the agreement in effect for one year.

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The ACCCE’s AFP Commander Human Exploitation Helen Schneider said that the partnership will help the agency identify and locate the victims of child sexual abuse, as well as identify the perpetrators.

“Child sexual abuse offenders can earn significant amounts of money from harming and abusing children, and this new partnership between the AFP and ANZ will help our investigators to target and disrupt criminals involved in sextortion, live online child sexual abuse, and organised child sexual abuse networks,” Commander Schneider said in a statement.

“The partnership between the AFP and ANZ is an important collaboration that will help strengthen the investigative capabilities of both agencies, working together to share real-time intelligence to dismantle child sexual abuse networks in an efficient manner.”

Milan Gigovic, executive and head of financial crime threat management at ANZ, said the bank has been a longtime supporter of the AFP.

“The complex and cross-border nature of many financial crimes means that more than ever before, we need strong collaboration across industry, law enforcement and government,” Gigovic said.

“By having a dedicated resource embedded in the ACCCE to share industry insights and financial intelligence, ANZ will play a crucial role in aiding the AFP and its partners to successfully identify, investigate and prosecute child sex offenders.”

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.

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