1 in 5 victims of ‘naked-chat blackmail’ in Hong Kong are students as young as 11 years old

Hong Kong students as young as 11 years old accounted for a fifth of the victims of “naked-chat blackmail” in the first half of this year, prompting police on Monday to warn residents to be cautious while meeting people online.

The crime typically involves scammers luring victims into disrobing during video chats and then threatening to circulate the naked pictures as well as videos to extort money, police said.

Criminals also employed a “scattergun approach” to befriend their targets via social media platforms and adopted various tactics to groom children for sexual exploitation while intimidating them into silence, the force added.

According to police, a 13-year-old girl recently met a male friend online through social media. He eventually built rapport with the girl under the “guise of sharing study tips” after chatting online with her several times.

“He later claimed that he could offer her tutoring and arranged a meeting, upon which he took her to a hotel and attempted to rape her,” the force said on its CyberDefender website, an initiative to educate residents about online dangers.

“Fortunately, the girl managed to inform her mother in time, preventing a tragedy.”