NPA: 98 minors victimized in crimes via online games in 2024
Ninety-eight children under 18 became victims of mostly sex-related crimes through online gaming last year, an increase of nine from the previous year, the National Police Agency said on March 13.
Although the NPA said most of the offenses involved sexual predators, con artists, including members of international organizations, are also targeting young Japanese gamers.
The NPA is urging children not to post personal information online or share it with people they meet through games.
The number of children victimized through online games has hovered around 100 in recent years.
In 2019, when the NPA began collecting such statistics, the number of minors victimized through online gaming was 65. The figure rose to 107 in 2022.
Among all crimes against minors stemming from interactions over the internet, the proportion linked to online games has increased from 3.1 percent in 2019 to a record-high 6.6 percent last year.
Of the 98 victims in 2024, 35 were exploited in child pornography cases, 23 were subjected to non-consensual intercourse, and 14 were victimized in non-consensual indecent acts.
More than half of the victims―56―were junior high school students, while 22 were elementary school students.
The most frequently used game in these cases was “Knives Out” with 27 victims, followed by “WePlay” with 23, “Fortnite” with 11 and “Identity V” with nine.
Many online games have voice chat and messaging features, which often lead players to move their conversations to social media sites.
Playing cooperatively can create a sense of camaraderie among strangers, and some players may be influenced by the promise of valuable in-game items.
The NPA has called on parents to be aware of what games their children are playing and who they are interacting with.
The agency recommends using parental control features to set time limits on game play and impose other restrictions.
Young Japanese have been targeted by international crime groups that are operating extensive fraud operations in eastern Myanmar.
A high school student from Miyagi Prefecture who was forced to commit fraud in Myanmar was taken into protective custody by Thai authorities and returned to Japan in January.
He was lured by a recruiter through an online game and went to Myanmar for a “yami baito” (shady part-time jobs offered online) earlier in January.
Across all social media platforms, Instagram was most commonly used for criminal activity in 2024, at 461 cases, followed by X (formerly Twitter) with 398, the NPA said.
