Federal police say they have identified 59 alleged offenders as being in these online networks and have made an unspecified number of arrests. Federal police say they have identified 59 alleged offenders as being in these online networks and have made an unspecified number of arrests. Australian federal police will develop an AI tool to decode gen Z and Alpha slang and emojis in an effort to crackdown on sadistic online exploitation and "crimefluencers". The AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, used a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to warn of the rise of online crime networks of young boys and men who are targeting vulnerable teen and preteen girls. The newly appointed chief outlined how the perpetrators, who are overwhelmingly from English-speaking backgrounds, were grooming victims and then forcing them to "perform serious acts of violence on themselves, their siblings, others or their pets".

One of the world's biggest networks of hijacked computers has been dismantled after a four-year investigation, the EU law enforcement agency Europol says. The Avalanche network was used to target online bank customers with phishing and spam emails, it adds. More than a million emails were sent per week with malicious files or links. When users opened them, their infected computers became part of the network. Five people have been arrested, but Europol has not said where.