Hong Kong child, 9, among rising number of underage sex victims who met abusers online
- Police warn that predators target their victims online before setting up meetings that lead to sex
- Some young victims are misled into sending explicit messages and pictures via ‘read once’ functions
Warning of the rising risk from children’s online activities, Senior Inspector Sarah Chan Hang-ming of the police family conflict and sexual violence policy unit said predators often established a close relationship with their victims before getting them to discuss suggestive topics, send intimate images or meet in person.
“We’ve observed that children will meet in person with people they met online without knowing much about their background, ultimately falling victim to sexual assault during these meetings,” she said.
The city recorded 696 cases of sexual abuse involving children last year, up from 578 in 2022, and they accounted for half of the 1,394 child abuse cases reported last year. The other half were cases of physical abuse.
With more children going online in recent years, the number of reports of minors sexually assaulted by people they met online had also risen, Chan said.
