Man suspected of sexually assaulting over 200 children on Omegle

A Finn who has been jailed since April is suspected of sexually abusing more than 200 children on the US video messaging platform Omegle and other social networks in 2022 and 2023, Finnish police said on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old woman, whose name has not been revealed, is suspected of contacting “more than 200 minors” between the ages of 6 and 15, most of them girls, in Finland via video messages, and asking them to “dress inappropriately.” Modest and attractive.” “In sexual acts,” police said on camera.

In pretrial detention since April, the man is suspected of aggravated sexual assault on children, sexual exploitation of children and luring of children by pedophiles (“grooming”).

The first communications were made on Omegle and, in some cases, continued on other platforms, the police explained in a press release, which is struggling to identify all the victims, because many of them managed to access the site anonymously at the end of 2023, according to the police.

Of these more than 200 children, “177 have not yet been identified,” said investigation leader Petri Lambo, from the police in Southwestern Finland.

The alleged crimes were committed in 2022 and 2023, and police have asked the legal guardians of children who may have been victims to assist in the investigation.

“Given the actions alleged and the number of complainants, this is a widespread crime,” Lambeau said.

Cases of sexual harassment and assault were widespread on Omegle, which launched in 2009, according to Finnish police. Its founder, Leif K. Brooks, announced the network's closure in November 2023.

But “children can also be victims via other applications, such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord or Random,” the police insisted, asking parents to supervise their children's use of social networks.