Parents have been advised to monitor their children's internet activities following a spate of cybercrimes and online sexual exploitation cases.
According to Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Deephor, deputy spokesperson for the Royal Thai Police (RTP), 346 cases of online sexual abuse involving children were reported last year.
Victims were predominantly girls aged 8–14, followed by female teenagers aged 15–17 and young boys aged 8–14.
Perpetrators often lure victims by offering money, in-game items or fake career opportunities, such as modelling jobs, Pol Maj Gen Siriwat said.
He urged parents to warn children about potential threats while supervising their online activities and set usage limits and emphasised the need for tools to filter inappropriate content.
He said the primary online threats against children include being lured through games or social media to meet perpetrators of sexual exploitation; being coerced into sharing explicit content later to be used for blackmail; cyberbullying through harmful posts or messages; online marketing scams; and exposure to violent or sexual material, and gambling.
Pol Col Runglert Khanthachan, superintendent of the Anti-Internet Child Sexual Abuse division, said money and game items are most frequently used to lure children to participate in explicit conduct.
Law enforcement officers are continuing their work with NGOs and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to educate schoolchildren about these dangers, he said.
He also mentioned a recent case in Chiang Mai, in which authorities arrested a Myanmar worker who had sexually abused two boys after deceiving their parents with promises of work. The perpetrator recorded the abuse, distributed the footage to members of secret groups, and threatened the victims into silence.
The Mirror Foundation reported that 314 children went missing last year, a 6% increase from 2023 and the highest in six years.
Of these, 72% intentionally left home, with the youngest runaways being seven years old.
To combat child abduction and trafficking, the Police General Hospital's Institute of Forensic Medicine launched the DNA-PROKIDS initiative, creating a database to match DNA from missing children with their families. Parents of long-missing children have been invited to provide DNA samples, raising hopes for reunions.