The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is warning of an alarming trend where Australians are directing the sexual abuse of children living overseas using live streaming services like Skype.

The abusers are grooming people, usually in developing countries like the Philippines, to procure children and paying to instruct sexual abuse which is broadcast over the internet using webcam.

It is a deliberate tactic to try to evade detection by authorities like the AFP, because it leaves little to no digital trail.

“Certainly we’re seeing an alarming trend of Australians that are engaged in this activity,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Justine Saunders told 7.30.

“It’s no different to you or I, if we were going on and communicating between each other on FaceTime or Skype where you’re on a conversation with another person and there’s no record of the conversation you’re having during that time.”

Despite that, the AFP is having some success targeting live-streaming abusers.

7.30 has been told the inside story of an extraordinary international crime-fighting operation that nabbed multiple live-streaming abusers and rescued children from harm.

‘This type of crime is really just dark and evil’

From his Brisbane home, 42-year-old Kyle Dawson would pay a woman in the Philippines named Joann for live sex shows over webcam.

However, it was not enough for Dawson, who convinced Joann to involve children in the webcam shows.

“That was what we call the grooming method, whereby through his conversations he then encouraged them to bring children into the child exploitation shows and those shows were then broadcast,” Anthony Maguire, a Manila-based agent for the AFP, said.

Kyle Dawson was sentenced to five years in prison for child sex offences. Photo: Supplied/ABC

Over Skype, Dawson was taken inside a Manila slum where he paid Joann to carry out the sexual abuse of three young children.

It was live-streamed via webcam to Dawson’s home.

Sam Inocencio, from the non-government organisation International Justice Mission, was involved in the crime-fighting operation in the Philippines that caught Dawson in the act.

“[The abused children are] two sisters and one boy, and the facilitator is their aunt and so even that alone is really just disturbing,” he told 7.30.

“This type of crime is really just dark and evil.”

But Dawson left a trail for the AFP to find by also downloading vast amounts of child abuse material.

In March last year, the AFP raided his Brisbane property.

Jeff Nagle, the Australian chief executive of International Justice Mission, is familiar with the raid.

“Upon the arrest of Kyle Dawson and the seizure of his computer equipment they were able to identify the location of some of that live-streaming abuse in the Philippines,” he told 7.30.

“Kyle Dawson had recorded those shows to watch at a later date and had done that with the intent to share or watch again that there was stored material that could be used as evidence.”

Philippines NBI agents on a raid to rescue children subjected to sexual abuse. Photo: International Justice Mission

The AFP tipped off authorities in the Philippines and together with International Justice Mission launched a sting operation by posing as a customer.

“That’s when the police started to go into the house and rescue the children,” Mr Inocencio said.

“They’re being provided with psychological care, especially trauma-informed care.

“Joann is now being prosecuted for qualified trafficking – basically this is the law against trafficking against persons in the Philippines.”

In July, Dawson was sentenced to five years in prison at the Brisbane District Court.

AFP had 11,000 child exploitation referrals in 2015

The Australian Federal Police is concerned demand for child abuse material is increasing across the country.

Live-streaming has been identified as a priority area to target.

“In 2014 we received about 4500 referrals of child exploitation material and in 2015 it was 11,000,” Justine Saunders said.

“So, this is a global trend.

“It’s not hopeless but I won’t deny this is alarming.

“The nature of the referrals, the increasing challenges associated with the use of the internet and the anonymity associated with the live-streaming makes this very, very difficult but I won’t deny that and certainly we are making in-roads.”

AFP Assistant Commissioner Justine Saunders speaks to 7.30. Photo: ABC

One way authorities are doing that is by chasing the money trail.

Profiling by the financial intelligence organisation Austrac has resulted in live-streaming convictions of Dominic Patrick Hickey and Patrick Goggins.

“Financial intelligence is a really valuable part of the puzzle for our law enforcement and intelligence partners but it’s a part of a puzzle,” Austrac’s national manager of intelligence Dr John Moss said.

“Both Hickey and Goggin were identified by profiling, [on] 14 reports that averaged $14 to $26, so a small number, and the context is there are over 1 million transfers that go out of Australia into the Philippines valued at less than $200.

“Finding these activities in that mass of data requires specialist tools, dedicated analysts and more importantly information sharing.”

‘We are just scratching the surface here in Australia’

The International Justice Mission’s Mr Nagle believes the real number of Australian perpetrators abusing children could be much higher than the AFP numbers indicate.

Since 2011 his organisation has rescued more than 100 children, including a baby, and they know there are many more.

“We conducted a joint rescue operation and rescued a ten-month-old child and we know that our law enforcement partners this year rescued a baby that was much, much younger and so these are being requested by paedophiles here in Australia,” Mr Nagle said.

“Not only are they asking for younger and younger children they are demanding more and more violent forms of abuse. We believe we are just scratching the surface here in Australia.”

From his perspective on the front line in the Philippines, Mr Inocencio agrees.

He is warning not enough is being done to stop the abuse and protect children.

“Both the Philippines government and the Australian government need to invest more resources to ensure that we investigate effectively these types of crimes given the explosion of cases involving online sexual exploitation of children,” he said.

“This has to be stopped.”

-ABC