An international student at a Canberra university has lost a bid for bail over allegations he used social media to lure a young girl for sex.
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The University of Canberra student, 22, did not enter a plea when he appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Federal police have charged him with one count of using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 for sexual activity.
From the witness box, federal agent Drew Viney said police believed the man had used Facebook on his mobile phone to make contact with at least one underage girl.
The court heard police had made a request to Facebook for the account's records to be preserved so they could further investigate the man's alleged "multiple engagements" with the girl.
They would also probe claims a second child had been contacted.
Police had spoken to the girl's parents, who had concerns the accused could track her down because she had named her school on her Facebook profile.
The court heard the pair had not met in person.
The Nigerian man was on a student visa and had lived in campus accommodation with his sister since he arrived at the start of last year to study marketing and communications, the court was told.
Police said they seized a mobile phone, laptop and drugs believed to be cannabis when they searched the man's apartment last week.
The court heard the man could be evicted from his accommodation because he hadn't attended classes since he began studying more than a year ago.
Commonwealth prosecutors opposed bail on grounds the man was a flight risk because he had minimal ties to the ACT and was likely to interfere with evidence or contact the alleged victim.
The man's defence lawyer said the accused did not have a criminal history and had come to Australia to make money to send home to his family who lived in Malaysia.
He said any concerns could be mitigated by bail conditions that would include regular reporting to police and a social media ban. The accused was also willing to surrender his Nigerian passport, which was currently being renewed.
Magistrate Bernadette Boss said there was no way of policing the man's internet access if he was released.
She found his argument that he had to work so he could send money home to his family "implausible", given he was in the country on a student visa that restricted the number of hours he could work.
Ms Boss refused bail due to the "serious nature" of the allegations and the man's "tenuous ties" to the ACT and Australia.
He will face court again on August 17.
