Digital Sex Crimes: Both Perpetrators and Victims Are Teenagers... Impact of COVID-19

Children Unable to Attend School Due to COVID Easily Become Crime Targets
Perpetrators Also Teenagers... Forming Intimacy Online Before Crimes
Experts Say "Need Awareness That Online Is Also a 'Space'... Rules and Laws Must Be Established"

Chat window reconstructing digital sex crime victimization./Photo by Seoul City Provided

[Asia Economy Reporters Seunggon Han and Juhee Kang] Recent data shows a sharp increase in digital sex crimes targeting teenagers, raising growing concerns. In particular, the aftermath of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to more non-face-to-face education and online activities, increasing the likelihood of exposure to digital crime victims, which is being pointed out as a social issue.

Experts suggest recognizing the online environment as 'a single space' and call for the establishment of systems such as common sense, rules, and laws accordingly.

Seoul City's 'Visiting Support Companion' announced on the 6th that, in cooperation with the police, it apprehended three perpetrators who committed digital sex crimes against teenage students. The Visiting Support Companion is a counseling support system established by Seoul City since September last year for victims of digital sex crimes.

The apprehended perpetrators reportedly used similar criminal methods to the Telegram 'Nth Room' case, forming close relationships with victims in online spaces such as games, chat apps, and social network services (SNS), then demanding photos and threatening them.

Victim A (11 years old) engaged in continuous conversations with a man who approached her in a game chat window, eventually sending photos at his request. The man then demanded increasingly explicit photos. When A refused to send photos, the man threatened, "I will distribute the photos you have sent so far." Ultimately, A continuously sent photos and videos as demanded. Some victims were found to have been sexually assaulted after being threatened with photos they had sent to the perpetrators.

The apprehended perpetrators were all students in their mid-teens to early twenties, targeting youths who were unable to attend school and stayed at home due to COVID-19. Notably, among the 21 victims reported to the Visiting Support Companion since the end of March this year, five were children under 13 years old.

/Photo by Yonhap News

As smart devices become widespread and online activities such as chatting and gaming increase due to COVID-19, concerns are rising that young adolescents are easily exposed to digital crimes.

According to the Visiting Support Companion, the number of adolescent victims requesting support was only 10 from October last year to early March this year, but increased about twofold (21) from mid-March to August.

During the same period, the number of victim support cases in Seoul also rose more than fourfold, from 74 to 309. It is analyzed that digital crimes have also increased since February to March, when the spread of COVID-19 began in earnest.

Not only victims but also the age of perpetrators is decreasing. The recently apprehended perpetrators were all males in their mid-teens to early twenties, belonging to a young age group. Earlier, among the 221 suspects arrested by the police in the April Nth Room case, 30% (65 people) were confirmed to be teenagers.

As a result, voices are growing louder for a social safety net to protect teenagers who are vulnerable to digital crimes.

Experts say it is time to discuss the rapid increase in digital sex crimes due to increased online activities and emphasize the need to establish systems such as common sense, rules, and laws in the online environment.

Seo Seunghee, director of the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center, said, "There is no clear evidence or statistics yet to definitively say that the rapid increase in digital sex crimes is due to COVID-19, but it is fully predictable that digital sex crimes are occurring more easily and in various ways amid increased non-face-to-face activities and online education," adding, "It is time to discuss COVID-19 and digital sex crimes."

Director Seo added, "Due to COVID-19, students receive education at home online and routinely use messengers and communities in the process of communicating with others, creating an environment where digital sex crimes can easily threaten them," and suggested, "Now, it is necessary to recognize the online space not just as a convenient and beneficial tool for our lives but as 'a single space' equivalent to offline spaces."

She continued, "Currently, the perception of online as a single space is not widespread. To prevent the recurrence of digital sex crimes, it is necessary to strengthen this awareness and establish systems such as common sense, rules, and laws that must be observed within that space," she emphasized.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.