Hong Kong police have arrested 10 people allegedly linked to an online platform selling upskirt photos and videos of women, which attracted close to 9,000 subscribers and generated about HK$4 million of suspected criminal proceeds.
The police Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau arrested the 10 suspects on Wednesday, including a married couple who were allegedly behind the platform, Senior Superintendent Frances Lee told a press conference on Thursday.
Officers also arrested four people who allegedly produced the upskirt images and four family members of the married couple, who were suspected to have provided their bank accounts to receive payments, according to Lee.
Superintendent Ferris Cheung said the online platform had operated for three years and had 9,000 subscribers. About 800 people had paid up to HK$2,000 to become VIP members, which allowed them to have access to all the upskirt photos and videos on the platform.
“All of the upskirt images targeted women and were filmed in high-traffic public places, such as on public transport, in stations, and shopping malls,” Cheung said in Cantonese.
Officers arrested six men and four women, aged between 20 to 62, on suspicion of conspiracy to publish intimate images without consent, conspiracy to publish indecent articles, as well as money laundering.
Providers of the upskirt images could receive rewards from the platform ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, Cheung said.
Meanwhile, members could also purchase the photos and videos individually, with the price ranging from a few hundred dollars up to HK$2,000.
Investigations are ongoing with a focus on how people were recruited to film the upskirt images, with more arrests possible, Lee said.
Viewers are ‘accomplices’
Police clinical psychologist Michael Fung – also at the press conference – said those who filmed the upskirt images could be driven by impulses other than sexual desires.
“Getting to see victims’ intimate parts in public without them knowing provides a sense of power” for the offenders, Fung said in Cantonese.
He warned that victims of secret filming could be traumatised and experience insomnia, anxiety, or heightened alert in public. “People who download such images are accomplices,” he added.
Lee warned that voyeurism-related offences were serious and could be punished by up to five years behind bars.
She urged the public to speak up when they witness voyeurism and to report such incidents to the authorities whenever possible.
