An increasing number of young people are being exposed to sex crimes over the Internet, says leading criminologist Rudolph Zinn.
His warning follows a case before court of a 22-year-old student accused of raping a woman of the same age, allegedly after becoming friends on Facebook and then meeting at a Strand nightclub.
Police officers were examining the man’s Facebook profile.
Somerset West police said he had previously appeared in the Somerset West Magistrate’s Court and been released on R500 bail.
Zinn, a Unisa professor and vice-president of the South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (Sapsac), said that more young people were being lured into friendships with sexual predators.
Sapsac, which was holding its annual conference in Pretoria, had received feedback about the trend of young people being exposed to cyber-sex crimes.
Zinn said that young people tended to post all their hobbies, likes and dislikes on their social media pages. Sexual predators would then become friends with them by pretending to have similar interests.
The rape case was postponed to June 1. - Cape Times
michelle.jones@inl.co.za
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