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Incident 958: Europol Operation Cumberland Investigates at Least 273 Suspects in 19 Countries for AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material

Description: Europol’s Operation Cumberland uncovered a global network distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The operation has led to 25 arrests and 273 identified suspects across 19 countries. The AI-enabled abuse allows criminals to create exploitative content at scale with minimal expertise.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: The first reported arrest was sometime in November 2024 of a Danish national, which led to the authorities uncovering an online platform distributing AI-generated CSAM. On February 26, 2025, Operation Cumberland was launched. The initial wave of actions reportedly led to 25 arrests, 33 house searches, and 173 seizures of electronic devices across 19 different countries. The investigation is ongoing.

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Entities

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Alleged: Unknown deepfake technology developer and Unknown deepfake CSAM tools developed an AI system deployed by Suspects identified in Operation Cumberland and CSAM distributors, which harmed Potential victims of exploitation , minors and Children.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Unknown deepfake apps , Unknown CSAM apps and Dark web marketplaces

Incident Stats

Incident ID
958
Report Count
11
Incident Date
2025-02-26
Editors

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

+1
25 arrested in global hit against AI-generated child sexual abuse material
+7
Dozens arrested in global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material
Operation Cumberland - Australian duo charged as part of global investigation into AI-generated child abuse materialEurope’s AI deepfake raid
25 arrested in global hit against AI-generated child sexual abuse material

25 arrested in global hit against AI-generated child sexual abuse material

europol.europa.eu

Dozens arrested in global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material

Dozens arrested in global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material

cnn.com

EU launches global sting operation against AI-generated child sexual abuse material

EU launches global sting operation against AI-generated child sexual abuse material

abcnews.go.com

AI-generated child abuse global hit leads to dozens of arrests

AI-generated child abuse global hit leads to dozens of arrests

bbc.com

25 arrested in global operation targeting AI-generated child sexual abuse content, Europol says

25 arrested in global operation targeting AI-generated child sexual abuse content, Europol says

cbsnews.com

Three arrested in Switzerland for AI-generated child pornography

Three arrested in Switzerland for AI-generated child pornography

swissinfo.ch

Europol: 25 arrests for child pornography created by AI

Europol: 25 arrests for child pornography created by AI

swissinfo.ch

Global crackdown on AI-generated child sexual abuse material leads to 25 arrests

Global crackdown on AI-generated child sexual abuse material leads to 25 arrests

therecord.media

25 held in global sweep for allegedly distributing AI-generated child abuse

25 held in global sweep for allegedly distributing AI-generated child abuse

aa.com.tr

Operation Cumberland - Australian duo charged as part of global investigation into AI-generated child abuse material

Operation Cumberland - Australian duo charged as part of global investigation into AI-generated child abuse material

afp.gov.au

Europe’s AI deepfake raid

Europe’s AI deepfake raid

gzeromedia.com

25 arrested in global hit against AI-generated child sexual abuse material
europol.europa.eu · 2025

Europol has supported authorities from 19 countries in a large-scale hit against child sexual exploitation that has led to 25 arrests worldwide. The suspects were part of a criminal group whose members were engaged in the distribution of im…

Dozens arrested in global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material
cnn.com · 2025

Twenty-five people have been arrested in a global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material, said Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, in a statement Friday.

Operation Cumberland, which was led by Danish law e…

EU launches global sting operation against AI-generated child sexual abuse material
abcnews.go.com · 2025

LONDON -- Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, has conducted a "large-scale hit against child sexual exploitation" whose members are part of a criminal group engaging in the distribution of images of minors fully gener…

AI-generated child abuse global hit leads to dozens of arrests
bbc.com · 2025

At least 25 arrests have been made during a worldwide operation against child abuse images generated by artificial intelligence (AI), the European Union's law enforcement organisation Europol has said.

The suspects were part of a criminal g…

25 arrested in global operation targeting AI-generated child sexual abuse content, Europol says
cbsnews.com · 2025

The Hague — A global campaign has led to at least 25 arrests over child sexual abuse content generated by artificial intelligence and distributed online, Europol said Friday.

"Operation Cumberland has been one of the first cases involving A…

Three arrested in Switzerland for AI-generated child pornography
swissinfo.ch · 2025

At least 25 individuals have been arrested in one of the first international operations of its kind, Europol said on Friday. The main accused is a resident of Denmark.

Contacted by the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS, the Federal Office of P…

Europol: 25 arrests for child pornography created by AI
swissinfo.ch · 2025
AI Translated

(Keystone-ATS) At least 25 individuals have been arrested in one of the first international operations of its kind, Europol announced on Friday. The main accused resides in Denmark.

Contacted by Keystone-ATS, the Federal Office of Police fe…

Global crackdown on AI-generated child sexual abuse material leads to 25 arrests
therecord.media · 2025

More than two dozen suspected members of a criminal group were recently arrested for allegedly distributing sexual images of minors generated by artificial intelligence.

“Operation Cumberland,” led by Danish law enforcement and supported by…

25 held in global sweep for allegedly distributing AI-generated child abuse
aa.com.tr · 2025

LONDON

Twenty-five people have been arrested in a major global sweep for allegedly distributing sexually explicit images of minors fully generated by artificial intelligence (AI), Europol announced Friday.

Europol has assisted authorities f…

Operation Cumberland - Australian duo charged as part of global investigation into AI-generated child abuse material
afp.gov.au · 2025

Editor's note: Arrest vision and images from Queensland are available via Hightail.

Two Australian men are among 25 people arrested as part of a global operation targeting the alleged production and distribution of child abuse material gene…

Europe’s AI deepfake raid
gzeromedia.com · 2025

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, arrested 24 people across 19 countries last Wednesday in a global crackdown on AI-generated child pornography. The arrests stretched beyond the EU with suspects taken into custody in Aus…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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