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Prostitution services are being offered in English 'for the convenience of expats and overseas tourists'

Operators of online brothels are advertising prostitution services in English in an attempt to attract expatriate and foreign clients.

Senior police sources say the move could be an attempt to market Hong Kong as a cheap destination for sex tourists.

Several sex websites have been  translated into English and offer thousands of women from Hong Kong, the mainland, Korea, Britain and France for an average hourly rate of $350.

One website operator, who refused to be identified, said triad bosses had turned to cyber-brothels for easy profits.

He said the women paid a fee of several hundred dollars each to register with the website. They were then photographed and graded on their appearance, attitude, experience and services offered.

Each link includes a detailed map of how to find a prostitute's apartment.

'We only just started offering the service in English about three weeks ago,' said the operator. 'This was more for the convenience of expats and overseas tourists ... we did not want to be seen to be discriminating.'

He said he believed the cyber-brothels were operating in a 'grey area of the law' but they were more of a service to help sex workers find customers.

It is not illegal for a sole prostitute to work in an apartment, but it is illegal to run a brothel or live off the earnings of a prostitute. The organisers of the online brothels offer many girls - but all operate  out of their own apartments. The chief weapon against the trend is to check whether the women  breach their tenancy agreements.

The operations director of Mongkok police district, Chief Inspector Cheung Kim-Kwong, confirmed that the sex trade appeared to be moving away from the traditional brothel scenario.

'This is an emerging phenomenon,' Chief Inspector Cheung said. 'We cannot see why they would want to promote Hong Kong as a sex tourist destination ... but it is a concern.

'We fear society is facing the problem where the prostitutes are moving into family environments to exploit the legal loophole of one-prostitute apartments.'

Several  residents said they had been living in fear since their  unit blocks were invaded by prostitutes,  with a stream of strangers visiting at all hours of the night.

A Security Bureau spokeswoman said: 'Police will gather intelligence and conduct investigations as appropriate. Depending on the outcome ...  prosecution will be considered against those persons who control the activities of the prostitutes or live on their earnings.'

She said cyber-brothels could be subject to laws against publishing obscene or indecent articles.

Hong Kong hosted its first  international conference discussing the legal constraints and possibilities for protecting the rights of sex workers on May 2.



Online brothels target westerners