ICMEC Australia

Op Blackwrist: Overcoming transaction laundering challenges
2025-02-26 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Op Blackwrist, led by INTERPOL, was an international cross-agency investigation prompted by the discovery of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a website which required a paid subscription.

The operation identified a network of offenders committing child sexual abuse, with some perpetrators travelling to Thailand to carry out the abuse. The heinous acts were then recorded and uploaded onto a website, where access to the material was commercialised and made available globally.

Tracking the consumption of the CSAM on the webpage posed a significant challenge to authorities, as access to the site and its content required a pay-per-view membership through an unregulated closed currency platform, TrueMoney.

Presented by ICMEC Australia’s new CEO Colm Gannon, who was an investigator on the case, our February Brown Bag will provide an overview of the operation. Colm’s presentation will focus on the challenges of closed currency platforms and how transaction laundering remains a key modus operandi for digital child trafficking in the commercialisation of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Your speaker

Colm Gannon, CEO of ICMEC Australia, is a seasoned professional with a strong commitment to child protection and extensive expertise in digital safety, cybercrime investigations, and software development. With 20 years in law enforcement, he has been involved in national and international investigations and prosecutions relating to online harms, child sexual exploitation, violent extremism, and harmful online communication.

Previously a Product Manager at Rigr AI involved in the software development process, policy development, and impact assessments, Colm’s wealth of experience positions him at the intersection of technology and child protection.

Event details

26 February 2025

Wednesday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane time

9:30am – 10:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

This event has already taken place. Thankyou to everyone to who attended. If you missed it, you can watch the recording below.

Please note: This video contains sensitive content and is age-restricted. You will need to sign in to a YouTube account to watch.

WATCH RECORDING HERE

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Sextortion of adolescents: What recent research reveals
2025-03-26 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
In today’s digitally advanced society, children can access the online world with unparalleled ease. With a few clicks of a mouse or a swipe of a phone screen, they can virtually connect with friends from the comfort of their bedrooms – and people can connect with them too.

Sexual extortion, or sextortion, is a form of online blackmail in which someone tricks or coerces a person into sending sexual images of themselves, then threatens to share the photos if the person does not comply with their demands – usually for more images, payment, or sexual favours. This scam has rapidly become a critical child safety issue, with a recent Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) study reporting that one in ten Australian adolescents said that someone had sexually extorted them for money or more intimate material.

Our March Brown Bag, presented by Dr Heather Wolbers, Principal Research Analyst at AIC, will explore key findings from two new research reports examining adolescents’ experience of sextortion. The studies reveal the serious and varied short- and long-term effects of sextortion, highlighting the support needs of victim-survivors and the urgency of targeted approaches to reduce this crime.

Your speaker

Dr Heather Wolbers is a Principal Research Analyst in the Australian Institute of Criminology’s (AIC) Online Sexual Exploitation of Children Research Program. She has undertaken research within the fields of family and sexual violence, the online sexual exploitation of children, and serious and organised crime. Heather holds a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice (with Honours), a Bachelor of Forensic Science, and a PhD in Criminology from Griffith University

Event details

26 March 2025

Wednesday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane time

9:30am – 10:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

This event has already taken place. Thankyou to everyone to who attended. If you missed it, you can watch the recording below.

Please note: This video contains sensitive content and is age-restricted. You will need to sign in to a YouTube account to watch.

WATCH RECORDING HERE

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Empowering every bank: Detecting and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse
2025-06-05 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Webinar series

Around 1 in 4 Australians have experienced sexual abuse as a child (Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023) and with rapid technological advancements, perpetrators are always finding new ways to exploit financial services to harm children. This crisis demands action, and banks are uniquely positioned to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA).

Join us for our new multi-part online event series, Empowering every bank: Detecting and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse, which will equip small and mid-sized banks with the knowledge and tools to prevent, detect, and report CSEA. These webinars aim to enhance your awareness and understanding of the crime type, offering financially relevant insights, case study examples, and actionable strategies to strengthen your organisation’s response.

This series focuses on the unique challenges faced by small and mid-sized banks, although professionals from other financial institutions are welcome to attend. Together, we can strengthen industry efforts, lead prevention and detection initiatives in the corporate sector, and protect society’s most vulnerable – our children.

Audience

This event series is designed for small and mid-sized banks. However, risk managers, compliance officers, anti-money laundering (AML) professionals, and key business decision makers from any financial institution are also welcome to register.

If you are unsure if these webinars are for you, feel free to contact us at event@icmec.org.au.

Event details

This series includes three sessions held virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Your Speakers

Bronwyn Mead Data and Intelligence Manager, Financial Crime and Cyber Resilience, Customer Owned Banking Association

Bronwyn has over 20 years of experience in the financial crime space. In addition to her operational experience with fraud, scams, and AML/CTF in the customer-owned banking sector, she is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and holds a Master of Fraud & Financial Crime. She is passionate about the value of the mutual sector, and keen to see uplift in the industry.

Her role at COBA is in data and intelligence, and she knows first-hand the challenges the sector faces in relation to financial crime, legacy systems, and capacity

Jessica Price Manager AML Operations, Indue

Jessica Price is an experienced AML professional with over eight years in financial crime, specialising in transaction monitoring, investigations, and regulatory reporting. As Manager of AML Operations at Indue Ltd, they oversee a transaction monitoring service for multiple financial institutions, helping clients strengthen their defences against evolving ML/TF threats.

With a strong operational background, they have built and trained transaction monitoring teams and understand the importance of robust processes in detecting and disrupting financial crime before it causes harm.

Mark Dickson Executive Manager, Financial Intelligence Unit

Mark Dickson is a financial crime risk and compliance specialist. He has worked in financial crime related roles at the Westpac Group for over 16 years and currently leads the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) function within Group Financial Crime.

Mark is passionate about collaborating with stakeholders to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and his teams actively partner with AUSTRAC, the Fintel Alliance, law enforcement and ICMEC Australia to promote child protection initiatives.

Katelyn Allen, Manager, Financial Crime Investigations, NAB

Katelyn Allen is a Manager in the Financial Crime Investigations team at NAB, focusing on high risk investigations and public-private collaboration. Katelyn has a strong passion for protecting vulnerable people and has dedicated much of her career to combatting child exploitation.

As part of this commitment, Katelyn has developed industry leading resources and initiatives to help the financial services industry respond more effectively to child exploitation.

Ainslea Milthorpe, Financial Crimes Team Lead, Hume Bank

Ainslea Milthorpe is the Financial Crimes Team Lead at Hume Bank, bringing over 11 years of experience in the financial services industry, with a specialised focus on financial crime including fraud/scams, ML/TF and sanctions.

Ainslea is passionate about protecting and educating the community and believes that collaboration through intelligence sharing and trust are the key to success in combating financial crime.

Registration

Registrations for this webinar series have now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

The price of harm: Initial insights on the costs of OCSEA in Australia
2025-07-24 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) is an urgent, national issue, with far-reaching consequences. However, there is a distinct lack of information on the economic toll this crime takes on society – and without this insight, efforts to enact systemic change can be limited.

Our July Monthly Brown Bag will explore the outcomes from a first-of-its-kind Australian study into the economic and financial costs and impacts of OCSEA, conducted through a partnership between the University of Queensland (UQ) and ICMEC Australia. Presented by Dr Jonah Rimer, lead researcher from UQ, the session will focus on the study’s recently completed initial phase, which established the existing knowledge base, and conceptualised the meaning of OCSEA costs.

Join us to hear a summary of the identified costs, the sectors likely to be involved, and participate in a discussion about the next steps of the study. This is an opportunity to provide input on cross-sector efforts to progress the research agenda and identify how industry can translate the findings into meaningful, tangible action.

To read the full report, visit our research page.

Your speaker

Dr Jonah Rimer is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Queensland and Convenor of Cyber Criminology for the university’s postgraduate Cyber Security programs. He holds a Doctorate in Anthropology and a Master’s in Medical Anthropology from Oxford University, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. Jonah’s research areas are online sexual offending, child abuse, human factors in cybercrime, social science of the internet, childhood and youth studies, and the justice system. He has been researching online child sexual exploitation and abuse since 2007 while in academia and the non-profit sector. For a list of publications, see Jonah’s UQ profile.

Event details

24 July 2025

Thursday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST / Sydney

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACST / Adelaide time

10:30am - 11:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registrations for this event have now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Leading with care: How travel companies are protecting children
2025-08-21 14:00 - 15:00 (Australia/Sydney)
This session highlights the powerful role that the travel and tourism industry can play in protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. With more than one in four Australians having experienced child sexual abuse (ACMS, 2023), businesses across this sector have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution.

Whether it’s through booking platforms or hotel staff on the ground, companies in travel and accommodation can be in a position to identify risks and respond early. Recent cases in which hotel staff have identified and stopped abuse on their premises serve as a powerful reminder that awareness and training can prevent harm and save lives.

In this webinar, we’ll hear directly from Marriott International and Booking.com on the proactive steps they are taking to strengthen child safeguarding.

Hosted by ICMEC Australia, this session will open with a brief overview of how child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) can occur within the travel and tourism industry, followed by a panel discussion with leaders from Marriott and Booking.com. We’ll explore how businesses can take action and why this work is not just ethical, but essential to building trust, safety, and social impact across the tourism industry.

Please note, the session will run under the Chatham House Rule: while participants may freely use information received during the event, the identity and affiliation of any speakers and participants must not be disclosed without express prior consent.

Your speakers

Abbe Horswill is the Director of Human Rights at Marriott International. She oversees Marriott’s human rights and human trafficking awareness initiatives, manages strategic partnerships and programs with nonprofit organisations, and provides education and guidance on human rights issues. Prior to joining the Marriott team, Abbe spent more than a decade in the anti-trafficking field, working at leading organisations, including Polaris and the National and International Centers for Missing and Exploited Children. She is thrilled to share this field-driven subject matter expertise with Marriott and the hospitality industry to help combat human trafficking, advance human rights, and make a positive social impact.

Jennifer Easterday, Head of Human Rights at Booking.com, leads the development and execution of the company's human rights strategy. Since January 2023, she has built and led a dedicated team advancing business and human rights standards across the organisation. Before Booking.com, she co-founded and served as Executive Director of JustPeace Labs, a non-profit organisation promoting the ethical and responsible development of digital technology. She holds a law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law and is licensed to practice law in California.

Event details

21 August 2025

Thursday

2:00pm – 3:00pm AEST / Sydney time

1:30pm - 2:30pm ACST / Adelaide time

12:00pm - 1:00pm AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registration for this event has now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Not-for-profit Workshop 2025
2025-09-05 09:00 - 16:00 UTC

ICMEC Australia Symposium 2025: Convergence
2025-11-06 09:00 - 16:30 UTC
We are proud to present our third major annual event in Sydney, the ICMEC Australia Symposium 2025: Convergence.

From the digital trafficking of children across countries to the financial sexual extortion of young people, child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) is an issue that crosses both geographical borders and industry sectors. With more than 1 in 4 Australians having experienced child sexual abuse (ACMS, 2023), we are facing a silent epidemic and a whole-of-system approach is paramount in our fight against this heinous crime.

This in-person, one day event will unite leaders from across the child protection response system, including businesses whose platforms or services may be misused to exploit children. The event will focus on a shared goal: to support and strengthen the professionals who detect, report, prosecute, and prevent CSEA.

The Symposium offers a unique opportunity to engage with leading experts from across public and private sectors, showcasing the latest intelligence, cutting-edge solutions, and innovative strategies driving cross-sector collaboration.

To ensure ICMEC Australia can continue advancing our work in the child protection space, this year’s Symposium will be a paid ticketed event.

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The cost of missing the signs: Addressing CSEA risk
2026-02-19 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Financial institutions - including payments providers, crypto exchanges, fintech’s, and banks - play a critical role in preventing child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), often without being fully aware of the influence they already hold. Following recent regulatory learnings, this session brings together industry professionals to provide practical steps to ensure your organisation is equipped to identify risks, strengthen controls, and respond confidently.

We will unpack the financial, regulatory, and reputational risks that can sit within everyday customer activity and demonstrate how finance professionals are uniquely positioned to disrupt and prevent harm from various areas across their company.

Join us for our first Brown Bag of the year as we outline sector-specific actions financial services organisations can take to move beyond compliance and actively disrupt harm. You will leave with practical next steps and a clear view of how ICMEC Australia can work alongside your institution to build safer systems, reduce risk, and contribute to a stronger, more responsible financial ecosystem.

Your speakers

Nick Kokay

Head of Compliance and MLRO, Australia, Coinbase

Nick Kokay is the Head of Compliance and MLRO at Coinbase. He is an AML/CTF and sanctions specialist with deep experience across government, fintech, and professional services. He has led major reforms to New Zealand’s AML/CTF framework at the Ministry of Justice, represented New Zealand at the FATF and Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, headed fincrime compliance for Australia and New Zealand at Wise, and was an Associate Director at KPMG.

Mark Dickson

Executive Manager, Financial Crime, Westpac Group

Mark Dickson is a financial crime intelligence specialist. He has worked in financial crime related roles at the Westpac Group for 17 years and currently leads the Financial Crime Intelligence (FCI) function within Group Financial Crime. Mark is passionate about collaborating with stakeholders to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and his teams actively partner with AUSTRAC, the Fintel Alliance, law enforcement and ICMEC Australia to promote child protection initiatives.

Event details

19 February 2026

Thursday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney time

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACDT / Adelaide

9:30am - 10:30am AWST / Perth

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registrations for this event have now closed. Please email events@icmec.org.au for any enquiries.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Signals to action: Building a safety stack to disrupt child sexual exploitation and abuse
2026-04-29 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Our April Brown Bag builds on our upcoming Symposium theme - the evolution of a modern “safety stack” capable of preventing, detecting, and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) at scale. Bringing together two ICMEC Australia board members with senior experience in law enforcement and financial crime, this session will explore how technical tools, organisational culture and workforce capability are used to create a stronger response to fighting child sexual exploitation.

With a particular focus on technology, including AI‑enabled tools and digital platforms, the conversation will explore how these capabilities can be used ethically and effectively in the fight against CSEA. The session will look at how emerging technologies are identifying risk earlier, where their limitations lie, and how collaboration between law enforcement and financial institutions helps ensure those signals translate into timely, lawful disruption.

The session will highlight real‑world lessons on ethical technology use, cross‑sector escalation, and what “effective disruption” looks like in practice - with a focus on preventing harm, not just detecting or reporting it.

Your speakers

Doug Boudry APM, Non-Executive Director, ICMEC Australia

Doug Boudry is a consultant who specialises in the development of emerging technologies, building strategies and helping to drive collaboration efforts across government, academia, private industry and the community. He has over 25 years’ law enforcement experience with the Australian Federal Police and was a recipient of the Australian Police Medal in 2024. Doug joined the ICMEC Australia Board in 2025 as part of his ongoing commitment to protecting children and ensuring a safer future for all Australians.

John Fogarty, Non-Executive Director, ICMEC Australia

John Fogarty is a seasoned compliance executive with over 35 years’ experience across regulatory and financial crime compliance. Most recently, he served as Executive General Manager and Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, leading significant risk and compliance capability uplift. John held senior roles at HSBC, CLSA, and UBS across Australia and Asia, and began his career as a Detective with the NSW Police Force. He is passionate about capability building and fostering the next generation of compliance professionals.

Event details

29 April 2026

Wednesday

12:30pm - 1:30pm AEST / Sydney

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST / Brisbane

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACST / Adelaide

10:30am - 11:30am AWST / Perth

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registration for this event has now closed. For any urgent issues please email event@icmec.org.au

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

ICMEC Australia Symposium 2026: The safety stack
2026-10-22 08:30 - 17:30 (Australia/Sydney)
