A 27-year-old Queensland man has been charged with nearly 600 child abuse offences, with police alleging he targeted hundreds of victims, some as young as five, on popular social media and gaming platforms.

Queensland detectives from the child abuse and sexual crime group seized electronic devices from the unemployed man’s Maryborough residence in February 2025.

Extensive searches of the devices allegedly uncovered about 23,000 videos and images of offending against 459 victims in Australia and overseas.

Police have arrested a 27-year-old Maryborough man in relation to nearly 600 child abuse-related offences.Queensland Police

Police alleged the man used social media and gaming platforms, recording his interactions with victims and sending explicit material.

Officers said the man created multiple online fake profiles of males and females, and he groomed, coerced and threatened young people into sending him sexually explicit material which was “meticulously recorded and saved … into pre-named folders”.

Crime Command Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Denzil Clark said most victims were male and aged between five and 15 years old.

Crime Command Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Denzil Clark.Brisbane Times/Courtney Kruk

The accused was charged with 596 child sexual abuse offences.

Of 360 alleged victims identified, more than 200 were in Australia.

“This is extremely concerning and disturbing offending,” Clark said.

“We are seeing an increasing prevalence of offenders threatening, grooming and coercing young people into providing sexually explicit material, and we know they are being targeted on popular gaming and social media platforms.

“Due to the volume of images seized and the number of victims identified, we are continuing this investigation.”

The charges relate to multiple online offences, including producing, recording and interacting with children online.

Clark said the offending occurred between 2018 and 2025, and ceased upon his 2025 arrest. Other offenders had been identified through the investigation.

“If anybody has any information of any person committing child sexual abuse, then please report it to police, and if those matters are linked to this investigation, we will make that linkage and investigate it as part of this investigation,” Clark said.

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