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Crime in Hong Kong
Hong KongLaw and Crime

Hong Kong teenager among 19 arrested in crackdown on ‘part-time girlfriends and boyfriends’

Undercover sting operation alerted to activities by explicit ads

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Items seized by police during Operation Riverland. Photo: Handout
Danny Mok

A teenage school dropout was among 19 people arrested as part of a crackdown on “compensated dating” in Hong Kong.

A month-long investigation ended on Saturday with an ­undercover sting operation as ­police arrested 13 men and six women at various locations, with all suspected of providing, or using, “part-time girlfriend or boyfriend” online dating services for sex.

Investigators from Mong Kok district were alerted to the activities by explicit advertisements that appeared online, as well as recruitment ads on social media and mobile applications.

75 arrested as Hong Kong police smash triad-run prostitution syndicate

Those arrested, all between the ages of 16 and 40, included three male students from a secondary school, a tertiary institute, and a Vocational Training Council institute. The youngest person detained was an unemployed 16-year-old girl who had dropped out of school, while a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being a middleman.

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Six were suspected of being service users, including one who claimed to be an engineer.

Also detained were two Indonesian women, one of whom worked as a domestic helper, and another whose visa had expired.
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Of the 19, six men and six women were arrested for providing sex in the form of compensated dating – an arrangement where one person pays another for companionship and often ­sexual relations.

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