KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 – Rape cases involving underage girls have increased in the last three years and police believe most of them began with grooming via social media, including chat applications like WhatsApp.
Bukit Aman’s Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director SAC Siti Kamsiah Hassan said most of the victims told police that they got to know the perpetrators through social media.
“The majority of underage girls who became victims of rape told investigating officers that they knew the perpetrators through social media like online chat forums first before meeting them in person.
“This shows that these girls have undergone the grooming phase with greetings of ‘hai’ and other words of praise, which leads to the sending of nude photos by the girls. This is followed by the meeting phase which results in these girls being raped, including by gangs,” she said.
Police statistics show that 1,299 rape cases involving underage girls were reported in 2021, which increased to 1,388 in 2022 and 1,590 in 2023.
Gang rapes involving underage girls were also on the rising trend with 61 cases reported in 2021, compared to 103 cases in 2022 and 104 in 2023.
Siti Kamsiah said apart from serving as a grooming platform, social media are also used by paedophiles to spread child sexual abuse material to other individuals with the same sexual orientation.
