Tokyo police say that sex crimes against underage females via gaming and social networking websites more than doubled in 2008.
According to a 2008 Metropolitan Police Department Survey of 130 sexual abused girls under 18 years of age, 82 of them were victimized via such sites.
In contrast, however, the percentage of girls violated through dating websites dropped approximately 60 percent last year.
Police see this as a sign that pedophiles are ditching closely monitored dating sites in favor of more "innocuous" websites. What's more, starting this past December, dating sites have been required to prohibit use from anyone under 18 years of age.
These "gaming sites," reports The Asahi Shimbun, are popular with kids looking to meet others their age who have similar interests. The paper did not specify particular sites or even if the police were referring to BBS-style websites.
The newspaper details one crime in which a 30-something-year-old company exec blackmailed a first-year junior high school student he met on a gaming site, threatening to post a topless photo of her on her school's website — a topless photo she took of herself and sent him.
More sordid details in the link below.
Predator hunt girls on gaming websites [Asahi] [Pic]