Child victims of SNS-linked crimes hit record high

April 26, 2018

Tokyo- A record number of children under 18 years old in Japan were victimized by crimes such as indecent assaults committed by perpetrators they came to know through the use of social networking services last year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The number of such victims stood at 1,813, hitting a record high for the fifth straight year.

Nearly half of the victims, or 941, were high school students. Junior high school students totaled 676 and elementary school children came to 41.

By age, 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds increased markedly among the victims.

Victims who got to know the perpetrators through Twitter made up the largest group for the fourth straight year, totaling 695, up 249 from the previous year.

While the number of children who fell victim to crimes by using chat app Himabu jumped 104 to 181, those victimized through the use of Line, another communications app, decreased 19 to 105. Gyaruru, also a chat app, followed with 97 victims, down 39.

By crime type, 702 children were victimized by sexual misconduct and other acts of violations of ordinances for juvenile protection, 570 by child pornography, such as telling children to send naked selfies, and 447 by child prostitution. Jiji Press