The modus starts by sending friend requests to potential minor victims who face financial problems within their community. And then the indecent proposals begin.
This has been going on for more than a year but on Monday, Aug. 19, the alleged money-making days of 54-year old “Blondie” ended after he was arrested by agents of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) for producing and selling videos of sexually-abused minors.
PNP-ACG director Brig. Gen. Ronnie Francis Cariaga said the suspect was even using a catchy title for the sex videos, “Bagets”, as a marketing strategy.
He said the operation stemmed from the Cybertipline Report issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) based on images intercepted by social media platforms.
“The ACG believes that the suspect may have lured, exploited and abused more child victims,” said Cariaga.
Based on the investigation, the suspect would chat male minors by offering P300 for a sexual activity with his gay friends.
Cariaga said most of the victims would agree as the suspect would promise easy money.
But unknown to the victims, the suspect would secretly take video and later edit it to come up with a sex video that he would allegedly sell.
This was corroborated by two victims, now aged 15 and 17 during the investigation conducted by the ACG based on the videos that were recovered when the arrest warrant was served on the house of the suspect in Manila.
The 15-year old boy told the ACG investigators that the sex video happened while he was still 14 years old.
"According to the 15-year old victim-survivor, the suspect actively messaged him on Facebook and enticed him to engage in sexual activity in exchange for P300.00. He refused on several occasions, but with poverty and the suspect’s alleged persistence, he agreed,” said Cariaga.
The suspect faces charges for violation of Republic Act 11930 in relation to Section 6 of RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).
Cariaga then urged all the victims to seek assistance from the ACG.
“We can help you. Let us help you obtain justice for whatever abuse you may have experienced. Alternatively, we can help remove your compromising videos,” said Cariaga.