Brazil lives epidemic of digital crimes (women and young people most targeted)

“Fit is very clear that Brazil is experiencing an epidemic of digital crimes, especially crimes aimed at vulnerable populations, such as children and adolescents and women, who are the main targets of these crimes,” said Victor Fernandes.

The alert is reinforced by data from the Cyberlab, also from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, according to the coordinator and police delegate Alesandro Gonçalves Barreto.

Created in 2017, Cyberlab is a specialized unit to support state police in the fight against crimes committed on the internet, also working with the Federal Police and the Public Ministry to identify criminals.

Between 2025 and 2026, the laboratory received 143 occurrences, self-mutilation or self-injury being the most recurrent classification, with 31 cases (38.8%), followed by school threat or attack planning, with 30 occurrences (37.5%).

There were also 17 occurrences of violence against homeless people (21.3%), 16 mistreatment or violence against animals (20%), 11 sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (13.8%) and 11 suicide or suicide induction (13.8%).

Alesandro Barreto pointed out that the data do not represent all the crimes in Brazil, but only the occurrences that arrive at Cyberlab, a support unit that assists state police in investigations.

The laboratory issued 1,800 alerts in 2025 and another thousand in the first half of this year, according to the coordinator, who highlighted the constant evolution of the technologies used by criminals to try to escape the application of criminal law.

This week, the National Secretariat of Digital Rights identified, in the first survey ‘online’ since the entry into force, in May, of the decree to protect women in the digital environment.

In all, 80 web pages have been marked that offer services where you can manipulate images of women by artificial intelligence (‘deep nudes’) to present them virtually naked.

The 80 e-mail addresses were sent to the Federal Police, the National Data Protection Agency for analysis and possible adoption of research, record preservation and blocking measures.

The National Secretariat of Digital Rights had already identified 32 applications with these features, available in Apple and Google stores, which were notified and subsequently removed and made unavailable.

Victor Fernandes stated that some services are marketed in closed groups, with payments through Pix and cryptoactives, pointing out evidence of a sophisticated financial chain associated with part of this ecosystem.

Asked by Lusa about the main challenges facing digital crime, platforms and major technology companies, the secretary stressed the active collaboration of these companies, explaining that they have access to the content and digital trail left by criminals and can help authorities identify those responsible.

The secretary argued that the collaboration of platforms is essential to remove content, preserve evidence and transmit information to the authorities because “without active collaboration of platforms” it is not possible to reach those responsible for the crimes.

As a solution to try to protect minors in the digital environment, Victor Fernandes highlighted the change in the obligations of digital platforms, which began to have broader legal obligations in Brazil to communicate crimes to national authorities.

In Brazil, this obligation came into force in March, with the Digital ACE — the Statute of Children and Adolescents in the internet environment.

Before this change, the secretary explained, American companies operating in Brazil reported cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States.

The US legislation obliges these companies to report these cases to the NCMEC, which later shared the data with the Brazilian Federal Police through voluntary cooperation.

According to Fernandes, the Federal Police received 960,000 reports of crimes of child abuse and sexual exploitation in 2025, 25% more than in 2024, equivalent to almost three thousand communications per working day.

With ECA Digital, platforms have in Brazil a legal obligation to report crimes against children and adolescents to Brazilian authorities, regardless of the nationality of companies.

The obligation covers crimes such as sexual solicitation and extortion, while subsequent decrees also established the communication of other crimes committed in the digital environment, including hate crimes, racism and terrorism.

For the Cyberlab coordinator, platform cooperation has improved in recent years, but companies still need to improve moderation mechanisms to prevent criminals from using their services.

“ Companies should also sit at the same table,” he said, defending that the fight against digital crimes cannot be left only in the hands of police and prosecutors, because the speed of action can mean saving lives.

Another phenomenon observed by Cyberlab is the involvement of younger and younger adolescents in hate crimes, including cases of minors who attract other minors, according to Barreto, who reported situations involving 12-year-olds.

Barreto stated that the covid-19 pandemic gave rise to a kind of “ cybercrime pandemic”, which remains active.

“Crime did not go into quarantine,” he said, explaining that criminals took advantage of the increased use of the Internet to reach more victims.

One of the most shocking recent cases in the country is the suicide of a teenager broadcast live on the Discord platform, which caused police authorities to reach the responsible: five minors and an adult.

Barreto stated that some young people involved in serious crimes view actions as stages of a game, in a “parallel reality” in which they need to “pass phases”, without fully understanding the consequences.