Australian police yesterday urged fans of Justin Bieber and their parents to stay vigilant on the Internet, after they filed charges over more than 900 child sex offenses against a man who impersonated the popstar online.
Bieber, a 23-year-old Canadian with more than 92 million followers on social network Twitter, ranked among Forbes’ most powerful celebrities from 2011 to 2013, is visiting Australia on his Purpose World Tour.
Queensland police had already charged 42-year-old Gordon Douglas Chalmers, a law lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, with serious offenses related to possession of child exploitation material and use of the Internet and social media to groom those younger than 16.
However, an examination of his computer led to the filing of an additional 931 charges against the man, including rape and making child exploitation material.
Police alleged Chalmers used online platforms, such as Facebook and Skype, to communicate with victims and seek explicit images from young children, in offenses dating from 2007.
A lot of child exploitation material was found on his computer, they added.
“The fact that so many children could believe they were communicating with this particular celebrity highlights the need for a serious rethink about the way we educate our children about online safety,” Police Detective Inspector Jon Rouse said.
“The breadth of offenses committed in this instance is frankly horrendous,” Rouse said in a statement.
Police have not said how many children had become victims or in what countries they live, but Rouse said the investigation showed “the global reach and skill that child sex offenders have to groom and seduce victims.”
Chalmers has yet to enter pleas and it is not clear how long he could spend in prison if convicted.
A lawyer who represented him in November last year did not answer his telephone yesterday.
Additional reporting by AP
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