Education and child protection authorities are on high alert, as data reveals that more than one-third of victims of deepfake sex crimes in Korea are minors.
Amid the rapid spread of deepfake crimes, particularly within schools, where over 180 cases have involved schoolchildren as victims, education authorities and police have announced plans to implement stronger countermeasures by establishing a task force.
According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Wednesday, 781 people sought help about deepfake crimes with the Advocacy Center for Online Sexual Abuse Victims this year as of Sunday, and 36.9 percent of them were minors.
Deepfake crimes involve the manipulation of photos and videos, typically using images of unidentified individuals, to create explicit content. Victims often find their faces superimposed onto obscene images, leading to significant emotional and psychological distress.
The number of underage victims increased 4.5-fold over two years, rising from 64 in 2022 to 288. This surge exceeds the overall increase for all age groups, which grew 3.7 times from 212 to 한국을 781 during the same period.
An official at the center noted that the high incidence of these types of damage among younger generations, particularly teenagers and those in their 20s, is due to their greater familiarity with online communication and social media compared to other age groups.
The center also attributes the rise to recent advancements in deepfake technology and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence.
Recently, deepfake abuse has been rapidly escalating in schools nationwide.
According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 196 people — 186 students and 10 teachers — reported they were victims of deepfake crimes from January to Tuesday.
The alert was prompted by an online post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, which disclosed a list of hundreds of middle schools, high schools and universities where students have fallen victim to deepfake crimes.
The manipulated videos were reportedly circulated through Telegram group chats, with media reports saying a chatroom where bots turn images into deepfake nude photos has nearly 227,000 users.
What is more concerning is the fact that a large number of offenders are also believed to be minors, according to authorities.