Two more cases of child pornography via the internet were investigated by the Economic Police and Cybercrime Prosecution Service
Theperpetrators had contacted minors via a social networking site and had convinced them to record videos and photos with obscene content.
Two more cases of child pornography via a well-known social networking website were investigated by the Economic Police and Cybercrime Prosecution Service.
Specifically, these are separate cases against two minor Greek citizens, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, where two Greek perpetrators, a 25-year-old and a 28-year-old, were located and identified in Messinia and Thessaloniki respectively.
More specifically, in the first case , the investigation into the case began after a complaint by a 44-year-old Greek woman according to which an unknown person was in possession of a video with obscene content of her 17-year-old daughter. This material had been filmed following pressure exerted by this person on the 17-year-old, in communication they had via video camera on the social networking website, while he threatened her that he would post it on the internet.
From the police investigation that followed, within the framework of an order from the Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office to conduct a preliminary examination, the details of a 25-year-old man were fully identified, as well as his place of residence in Messinia, who, as it turned out, was the person who had come into contact with the minor.
A team of police officers from the Financial Police and Cybercrime Prosecution Service conducted a search, in the presence of a judicial officer, at the residence and at a store he owns, where the following were found and seized:
- an internal PC hard drive with a SIM card
- a mobile phone and
- a mobile phone memory card.
The seized digital evidence will be sent to the Criminal Investigations Directorate for further laboratory tests.
In the second case, a 46-year-old Greek woman, mother of a 15-year-old boy, reported that an unknown person, through a profile she maintained on a social networking website, had contacted her son and, at his urging, had managed to send him a photo of the minor child with obscene content.
Following a Resolution by the Athens Misdemeanor Courts Council to lift the confidentiality of communications and investigate this specific case, an online police investigation followed, in the context of which the electronic traces of the 28-year-old were identified in an area of Thessaloniki.
A team of police officers from the Financial Police and Cybercrime Prosecution Service conducted searches at the 28-year-old's home and office, in the presence of a judicial officer, where the on-site autopsy determined that although the 28-year-old's controversial profile had been deactivated, there was an exchange of messages with the minor.
As part of the investigations, the following were found and seized:
- three (3) computer hard drives
- one (1) Netbook and
- one (1) memory card.
The above seized digital evidence will be sent to the Forensic Investigations Sub-Directorate of Northern Greece (YEE.B.E.) for laboratory tests.
The Hellenic Police Headquarters, with the aim of avoiding similar incidents, provides instructions to parents and children, which are also posted on the Hellenic Police website (www.hellenicpolice.gr) in the "Citizen's Guide":
- Prefer to place your computer in areas such as the living room rather than bedrooms. This way you will be able to supervise your child without them feeling like they are being controlled.
- Make surfing the Internet a family activity. Use the computer together with your children.
- Inform your children about the dangers of chatting with strangers through chatrooms.
- Discuss with your children safety issues (communication with dangerous people, access to sites with harmful content) that arise from surfing the internet.
- Teach them not to give out personal information without your permission (last name, first name, age, home address, phone number, family income, even school schedules, friends' names, etc.) and not to use your card.
- Never allow your children to meet with people they met online.
- Also, teach them to refuse to meet in person with people they have met online. Explain to them that the strangers they want to meet with can be dangerous.
- Use the so-called "filters", which are special software products designed to block access to undesirable "sites" (violence, pornography).
- Check the content of audiovisual materials, such as CDs, floppy disks, etc., that your children buy or exchange with their friends.
