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PETALING JAYA: Online predators are increasingly using interactive gaming platforms to target children for sexual exploitation and abuse, warns Bukit Aman’s sexual, women and child investigations division (D11).

Siti Kamsiah Hassan, D11’s principal assistant director, said popular games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, the Call of Duty series and League of Legends are often used by sexual predators to initiate conversations with potential victims.

"All these platforms support in-game chatting, making it easier for predators to communicate with their targeted victims in groups and for grooming to occur," she said in an exclusive interview with FMT.

According to Siti Kamsiah, boys between the ages of 11 and 17, especially those aged 13 and 15, are the most vulnerable as they tend to seek connections beyond their families.

"At this age, they begin to have sexual desires, high curiosity, and a need for interaction or social connections," she said.

According to The Star, 135 (4%) out of 3,361 reported cases last year involved male sexual harassment victims, up from 95 of 2,920 cases in 2022 (3.3%), and 82 out of 2,905 cases in 2021 (2.8%).

D11 data further shows a rise in reported cases of sexual exploitation via online games: from 8 cases in 2021, to 17 in 2022, and 23,  last year.

Siti Kamsiah said online predators typically target those who appear susceptible to manipulation. She said they seek to build trust with their victims by misrepresenting their ages, identifying shared interests, or posing as mentors in games.

"Typically, vulnerable children lack bonding with family members. They prefer being alone or having no friends, so they don’t have anyone else to turn to," she said, adding that the lack of spiritual values also reduces their resilience to online threats.

Grooming techniques

Siti Kamsiah said predators use various grooming tactics, including by showing concern and sympathy, showering children with frequent compliments to make them feel supported, and offering gifts or game tokens.

"Another tactic is gradual desensitisation, starting with sex-related conversations, before moving on to sharing explicit content so that the victim becomes more at ease with talking about, or engaging in, sexual activities," she said.

She said perpetrators then move from the conversation to private messaging platforms like WhatsApp for further exploitation.

Meanwhile, Unicef child protection specialist Lee Lyn-Ni said online grooming can also be abrupt, with the offender suddenly requesting or pressuring the child to share sexual content of themselves.

Lee pointed out that perpetrators are increasingly using live streaming to evade detection and allow remote viewers to direct ongoing abuse.

Parental guidance and platform responsibility

Lee urged parents to become more involved in their children’s online activities. This will enable parents to educate their children about online risks and instil resilience.

Siti Kamsiah said gaming platforms must implement stringent policies to detect predator behaviour and introduce reporting systems which are readily accessible to minors.

"They should also have moderators present to directly monitor gameplay," she said.

Both Lee and Siti Kamsiah called for stronger laws and government support to combat online exploitation through improved coordination and funding.

"(This) would also help because the issue of online child sexual exploitation and abuse is complex and involves transnational crime," Lee said.