Helsinki authorities said on Tuesday that a Finnish man is suspected of having sex acts against more than 200 children on the video chat app Omegle and other social media platforms.
He is suspected of contacting “more than 200 juveniles” aged six to 15 across Finland via video talk, most of them ladies, and asking them to “dress poorly and do physical acts” in front of the online camera, authorities said.
The person in his 30s, whose title has not been disclosed, has been in prison since April, accused of aggravated sexual abuse against kids, sexual abuse of children and cleaning.
His first connections with the alleged victims were on Omegle and, in some cases, next continued on various social media platforms, authorities said.
Authorities are having a hard time identifying the children because they were able to access Omegle at the time under their own circumstances.
” There are still 177 unexplained sufferers”, said chief inspector Petri Lamppu of the Southwestern Finland police office.
If parents or guardians had a suspicion that their children might have fallen victim to the allegations, which authorities said occurred in 2022 and 2023, Lamppu requested that they come forth.
” This is crime on a large scale”, he said.
According to authorities, sexual harassment and abuse were common on Omegle.
” Children may also fall prey via other programs, such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord or Random”, they said, reminding parents to manage children’s use of social media.
