By DPA,
Hong Kong : Hong Kong police have issued a warning to parents to be on their guard against prostitution rings recruiting teenage girls online after a man was jailed for one year for operating an online brothel, a news report said Thursday.
The 25-year-old man had posted pictures and contact details of girls online and transported them to meet clients, charging them a commission of $60 per client from their earnings.
He appeared in court Wednesday, charged with living off the earnings of a prostitute and controlling people for the purpose of prostitution.
A report in the South China Morning Post said Thursday that the man was one of 14 people arrested in a vice crackdown in September in which police monitored the online activities of prostitution rings focussing on cases involving girls.
Many of the rings targeted girls who made around $80 to $250 for each client depending on their age.
Police welcomed the sentence but said that syndicates were increasingly turning to the internet to try to recruit girls, some as young as 14.
A police spokesman said parents should be on their guard, particularly during school holidays, when syndicates step up their recruitment activities.