Nowadays, in addition to social media, even online games have become a "tool" for sex criminals to find prey.
According to Free Malaysia Today, sex offenders target their prey in online video games, with teenagers aged 13 to 15 being the most vulnerable.
Assistant Director Siti Kamsiah Hassan, head of Bukit Aman Sexual Offences, Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Investigation Division (D11), said popular online games all have in-game chat features, such as online battle games such as Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, Roblox, Call of Duty, League of Legends, etc.
She said boys aged 11 to 17, and especially teenagers aged 13 to 15, were most likely to be targeted because they wanted attention from outside their families.
"At this age, they begin to have sexual desires, intense curiosity, and a need for interaction or social connection."
She also pointed out that victims are usually targeted because they lack communication with family members, prefer to be alone or have no friends. She said sex offenders may use tactics including lying about their age, finding common interests or acting as a mentor in games to build trust with their victims.
"Sex offenders will show care and empathy, give frequent compliments to make the victim feel supported, and give gifts or game tokens."
Siti Kamsiah Hassan said that according to police data, there was an increase in reports of sexual offenses committed through online games, from 8 cases in 2021 to 17 cases in 2022, and to 23 cases in 2023.
Of the 3,361 sexual offences in 2023, 135 (4%) involved male victims of sexual harassment, up from 95 (3.3%) of the 2,920 cases in 2022 and 82 (2.8%) of the 2,905 cases in 2021.
She said some sex offenders would also start the conversation with sex-related topics and then gradually share explicit content to make the victim more comfortable talking about or participating in sexual activities, and then switch to communication platforms such as WhatsApp for further sexual exploitation.
Therefore, whether they are sons or daughters, parents should pay more attention to them and monitor their children's online activities at all times.
