Hong Kong juveniles becoming victims of child pornography, sex crimes amid pandemic, police warn
- There have been 85 reports of unlawful sexual intercourse between January and September this year, compared with 71 over the same period last year
- ‘Sextortion’ cases jumped to 616 during the first three quarters of this year from 171 over the whole of last year
The force also said cases of “sextortion”, in which victims aged 12 to 64 were blackmailed after compromising online chats were recorded, jumped from 171 over the whole of last year to 616 between January and September this year.
“The situation is alarming,” said Chief Inspector Cheung Po-yuet of the police’s Family Conflict and Sexual Violence Policy Unit. “We believe this has to do with the pandemic. Schools have been suspended and because of the social-distancing measures, youngsters are mostly staying home.”
In the first three quarters of last year, there were 71 reports of unlawful sexual intercourse – men having sex with girls under 16 years old. Among them, 25 victims met their abusers online.
During the same period this year, the number of cases of unlawful sexual intercourse rose to 85, while in 38 instances, the offenders found their prey online. The youngest victim was only 10 years old.