More Children in Japan Becoming Victimized Through Online Games; Police Urge Parents to Pay Attention to What Children Are Playing Online

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:22 JST, April 2, 2025

Ninety-eight children under 18 years old were victims of criminal acts committed by people they met while playing online games last year, an increase of nine compared to the previous year, according to the National Police Agency. The figure is about 1.5 times higher than in 2019, when such statistics started being recorded. In 2019, the figure stood at 65.

By type, 35 children were victims of child pornography, the largest group, 23 children were victims of rape and 14 were victims of indecent assault.

Seventy-four victims, or more than 70%, were junior high and high school students, and 22 were elementary school students.

Many online games allow users to speak to each other and send messages. In many cases, the victims became close to the perpetrators as they played games together and gave them their personal information.

In January, a high school student from Miyagi Prefecture was lured to Myanmar by a man whom he met via an online game and was forced to take part in special fraud.

Police are urging parents and guardians to pay attention what games their children are playing and with whom they are speaking.