The Indonesian Commission for Children Protection (KPAI) released a new statistic showing a rise in cyber crimes involving children as victims in Indonesia.
Maria Advanti, KPAI’s commissioner for the Pornography and Cyber Crime Department, said that from 2014 to 2016, they received 1,249 reports of cyber crimes against Indonesian children from citizens.
“This is an increase from 2011-2013 when there were only 610 reports,” she said, as quoted by Tempo yesterday.
It’s not known if there was an actual increase in cyber crimes against children or if more people are aware of it that more cases are being reported to authorities.
Maria said KPAI received troubling reports of children as young as sixth graders being targeted by online predators on social media.
“They became friends on Facebook and then went on to chat on Whatsapp,” she said.
For that reason, she said she hopes that parents can keep a close eye on their young children’s internet use.
According to a study by UNICEF and the IT Ministry, as many as 30 million Indonesian children actively use the internet.
