FRANCE – Suspected administrators of platform that sold intimate content of more than 17,000 women worldwide are arrested

PARIS, Oct 6 /ATSH-AFP/ – A joint Franco-American operation has led to the shutdown of the platform “NudeLeaksTeens”, in other words “leaked intimate images of teenage girls”.

“This platform offered online sales of intimate content stolen from more than 17,000 women, including minors, around the world,” the Paris prosecutor’s office announced today.

“Two brothers, aged 21 and 25, suspected of being the administrators, were arrested on Tuesday in northern France,” the prosecutor’s office said in a press release.

On three different websites, “the platform offered for sale packages of stolen intimate content, sourced from various sources” such as hacked social media accounts, “grooming” (online deception by adults targeting minors) and “revenge porn” (the non-consensual sharing of intimate images for revenge).

Some of the women involved were minors and of different nationalities.

“Users of the site were encouraged, in exchange for virtual currency, to provide identifying information for each victim, listed individually under their real name, indexed by age, place of residence, profession and a beauty rating,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

“At the homes of the two arrested brothers, French investigators seized virtual currency worth approximately 700,000 euros, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, USDT and Ethereum,” the Paris prosecutor’s office added.

“People who are victims of the non-consensual distribution of their intimate content on the NudeLeaksTeens platform, whether French or foreign, are encouraged to contact the National Cyber Unit at victimesNLT@gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr,” the Paris prosecutor said.

In France, the investigation is being led by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office and has been entrusted to the cyber unit of the National Gendarmerie.

It covers the offences of possession and organised distribution of pornographic images of minors, money laundering, providing an online platform for illegal purposes and violation of privacy.