Influencers linked to growing number of child grooming cases: Police

Summary 

• Over 30 percent of reported child sexual grooming cases involve social media influencers or public figures, according to Bukit Aman.

• Police say offenders often use their online popularity to build trust with victims before allegedly committing indecent acts.

• Authorities are constantly ramping up efforts to detect online sexual content and plan to build a behavioural database of offenders.

Police have detected a rise in the number of child sexual grooming cases involving social media influencers or individuals seen as public idols.

According to Bukit Aman’s Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan, over 30 percent of all child sexual grooming cases received by police involved such figures.

These individuals are said to have exploited their online popularity to approach and build relations with victims aged 18 and below before going on to allegedly commit indecent acts. 

“Such cases are on the rise because these so-called idols or influential figures are now sprouting like mushrooms on social media platforms, compared to before,” Kosmo quoted Siti Kamsiah as saying.

“Not all influencers are just social media content creators. Teachers, artistes, athletes, or religious figures are also often idolised by the public,” she added. 

Noting that child grooming cases are becoming more widespread and increasingly facilitated by the use of social media platforms, she said police are constantly stepping up intelligence efforts to detect online circulation of sexual content.

The efforts, she said, are part of measures to prevent the normalisation of such material through repeated exposure, which could potentially cause sexual addiction issues. 

“We are also identifying their online networks, including group members, before making arrests,” she said, adding that police will also collaborate with psychological and criminology units to develop a behavioural database of offenders. 

On Thursday, a social media influencer was arrested and remanded for four days to assist in an investigation regarding allegations of sending obscene pictures to a teenage girl. 

Gombak police chief Noor Ariffin Nasir said the probe into the man is being conducted under Section 15(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 regarding non-physical sexual assault on a child.

Siti Kamsiah said investigations for the case remain ongoing.

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