Police investigating 513 deepfake sex crime cases; up 73 pct in 40 days

Police are investigating 513 cases of deepfake sex crimes, a more than 70 percent jump in about 40 days, the National Police Agency said Wednesday.

The number, tallied as of Tuesday, compares with only 297 cases at the end of July.

Should the current trend hold, the annual number of deepfake crime cases reported to police is expected to reach a record high. The number of such cases has been on a steady rise from 156 cases in 2021, to 160 cases in 2022 and 180 cases in 2023.

From January to September this year, 318 suspects were detained over deepfake sex crime charges, and 251 of them, or 78.9 percent, were teens.

Many victims of deepfake sex crimes were also in their teens, with 62 percent of the total number of victims being teenagers last year.

Since last month, police have been carrying out a special crackdown on deepfake crimes.

South Korea’s media regulator also said it plans to hold a working-level talk with officials from Telegram in the near future to discuss their joint response to deepfake porn content on the platform. The regulator did not elaborate on the details of the planned meeting.

Last week, Telegram opened a hotline with the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) to better respond to illicit content on its platform.

Since then, Telegram has removed 61 pieces of sexual exploitation material from its platform, including those requested by the KCSC, according to the watchdog.