Police Arrest a Man Suspected of Grooming 12 Girls Online and Blackmailing Them for More Images: How Parents in Portugal Can Report It

The Polícia Judiciária (PJ, the criminal investigation police) has arrested a 28-year-old man suspected of several crimes of child pornography, the force said on Saturday. Twelve girls have been identified as victims so far. The arrest was made by the PJ's Diretoria do Centro (Centre Directorate) on a warrant issued by the Ministério Público (Public Prosecutor's Office).

According to the PJ, the evidence gathered strongly indicates that during 2025 and 2026 the man repeatedly targeted underage girls he met on social networks. He then moved the conversations to messaging apps, where he groomed the girls and persuaded them to send him sexual photographs and videos of themselves.

Once he had those images, the PJ says, he pressured the girls to send more, threatening to share what he already had with their families, their school community and on social networks. Officers seized a large number of computer files containing child pornography.

The man was brought before a judge for a first hearing. He was released under three conditions: he must report to the authorities every week, he may not have contact with anyone under 18, and he may use the internet only for his work. He has not been tried.

What parents can do

The pattern the PJ describes is covered in advice from the Associação Portuguesa de Apoio à Vítima (APAV, the Portuguese victim support association) on its cybercrime victims' page. APAV's main points for a parent whose child is being groomed or blackmailed online:

• Make sure the child feels safe and supported, and knows that what happened is not their fault.
• Stop all contact with the offender, but do not block the account or delete the app that was used to talk to the child.
• Never give in to the blackmail. Meeting the demands does not improve the victim's situation.
• Keep the evidence: the conversations, the offender's username and the address of their profile. APAV says one of the best ways to preserve it is to put the devices in airplane mode and hand them to the PJ for examination.
• Report it straight away. APAV notes that the same offender may be targeting other children.

Sexual crimes against under-18s are reserved to the PJ, APAV says, so they should be reported to the PJ or to the Public Prosecutor's Office. The PJ takes criminal complaints through its online complaint form, and a complaint can also be made at any police station or prosecutor's office. In an emergency, the PJ asks people to contact the duty officers at its nearest office rather than use the online forms.

Free helplines

The Linha Internet Segura (Safe Internet Line), coordinated by APAV as part of the EU-funded Centro Internet Segura (Safer Internet Centre), answers free on 800 21 90 90 from 08:00 to 23:00 on working days. It supports children, parents and teachers anonymously and confidentially, and refers serious cases to the authorities when a child appears to be in danger. Its hotline also takes reports of child sexual abuse material found online, by phone or through an online form.

Where a child's intimate images are already circulating, APAV points families to Take It Down, a service that helps remove such images from platforms including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, or stop them being posted. APAV's general victim support line, for any crime and for victims' relatives and friends, is 116 006, free on working days from 08:00 to 23:00.

Earlier this month we reported that the GNR's youth crime figures showed cases of online exposure growing.