Australian Influencer Accused of ‘Torturing’ Her 1-Year-Old in Scam to Get Followers, Donations

An Australian influencer has been charged with poisoning and torturing her 1-year-old daughter in an effort to make her sick and then leverage her illness online for donations and social media followers.

The Queensland Police Department announced the charges against the 34-year-old woman on Thursday, alleging that the woman’s infant daughter “was being subject to immense distress and pain” while her mother “filmed and posted videos of the child” in order to drum up sympathy and attention online.

Australian authorities, who did not identify the suspect by name, announced it will charge the mother with “five counts of administering poison with intent to harm, three counts of preparation to commit crimes with dangerous things, and one count each of torture, making child exploitation material and fraud.”

“We will do everything in our power to remove that child from harm’s way and hold any offender to account,” Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said in a statement. “There is no excuse for harming a child, especially not a one-year-old infant who is reliant on others for care and survival.”

Queensland police alleged the abuse began in early August 2024 and lasted until Oct. 15, 2024, when medical staff at a hospital in Brisbane contacted police with concerns that the 1-year-old girl was being poisoned by her mother. Detectives soon discovered that the woman was using “unauthorized” and “old” medications to give to her daughter while “disregarding medical advice” in an alleged effort to make the young girl more ill, according to police.

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The mother would then post videos of her daughter online, police said, pocketing donations and gaining social media followers. The mother had raised roughly $60,000 in Australian dollars, or about $37,000 USD, the BBC reported. GoFundMe is working to refund the donations, according to the outlet.

“It is alleged the content produced exploited the child and was used to entice monetary donations and online followers,” Queensland Police said in its news release Thursday.

The woman was arrested Thursday after testing on the “unauthorized medicines returned a positive result” last week. The mother is expected to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday. PEOPLE was not immediately able to reach an attorney for her.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.