95 arrested in operation targeting distribution of child sexual abuse material

An INTERPOL-coordinated operation spanning 17 countries in Latin America and Europe between March and September 2026 resulted in 95 arrests targeting suspects who distributed child sexual exploitation and abuse material through messaging applications and cryptocurrency payment systems. Investigators executed 127 search warrants and rescued one child victim whose parent had been producing and selling abuse material online; authorities identified messaging platforms as increasingly used to groom children, coordinate abuse, connect offenders and receive payment for illegal content, with one suspect accused of sextortion demanding increasingly explicit videos from victims under threat.

Pattern-driven detection closes the operational window before monetization. Where conventional platform moderation relies on retrospective hash-matching after material enters circulation, anti-sextortion and anti-CSAM filters from Guardii intercept coercive escalation at the point of contact, flagging sustained demands for imagery, refusal-and-threat sequences and payment coordination in real time across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and other platforms. This approach surfaces a child at acute risk to the parent or authority before material is created or traded, disrupting the commercialization cycle that this international operation was built to contain.