Sexual grooming” of a junior high school boy he met in a video game was revealed in court.

Takeuchi, who claimed to have sincerely been involved with the victim, had multiple victims and repeatedly made self-serving claims about other victims, saying he thought they were in a relationship.

“There is a very high possibility that more crimes will come to light, and investigations are ongoing, so the schedule for the latter part of the trial has not been decided. Cases of children being involved in crimes through online games are increasing. Offenders disguise their identities and approach children as game friends.

Once they become somewhat close, they make the children send nude images as punishment games. They then threaten to spread these images on social media, demand money, or force sexual relationships. This arrest is just the tip of the iceberg,” said the reporter.

While online games are not inherently dangerous, parents need to understand the risks of easily interacting with unseen individuals.