A resident of Bocognano, in South Corsica, was arrested at his home on Tuesday and placed in pretrial detention after exchanging messages online with someone claiming to be a 15-year-old girl. The operation was actually part of a larger initiative to uncover potential online sexual predators. The arrest was triggered by a report filed on the government platform Pharos, dedicated to identifying illegal online content. The prosecutor of Ajaccio, Nicolas Septe, confirmed the information and praised the work of the Corsican gendarmerie who conducted the investigation.
Several charges have been brought.
The man in his forties has been charged with making sexual propositions to a 15-year-old minor via electronic means of communication, as well as with possessing and transmitting pornographic images involving a minor under 15. According to the magistrate, the acts related to the sexual propositions allegedly took place in South Corsica between January 2025 and April 2026, while the offenses related to the images cover a much longer period, from June 2020 to June 2026, and involve both South Corsica and northern France. The man has also been placed under the status of assisted witness for corruption of a minor.
This case comes amidst several similar arrests that have recently made headlines in the legal news. The previous week, a man over sixty years old was charged and imprisoned in Bastia after being caught in a sting operation on TikTok. In May, a streamer known by the pseudonym Finnyzyy used the same method to help identify a suspected child sex offender by posing as a young girl.
These increasingly visible digital tracking methods, however, raise concerns among some child protection specialists. While the approach addresses a persistent lack of resources dedicated to combating sexual violence against minors, voices from the non-profit sector point out that the way these operations are conducted can, in some cases, prove more harmful than helpful to victims and the legal proceedings themselves.
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