SINGAPORE – Adults caught having sexual communication with minors and meeting them in real life may face sexual grooming charges, which carry a sentence of caning and imprisonment.
In a joint response to queries by The Straits Times over the Leomatch bot on Telegram, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said they are aware that young people are using the bot, and of the risks of it being misused by malicious actors to sexually groom or exploit them.
“We take this matter seriously, and the Government has several measures in place to deal with online grooming or exploitation,” said the authorities.
Offenders above the age of 18 convicted of sexual grooming can be jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
For having sexual communication with a minor, an offender can be jailed for between two and three years and fined, depending on the age of the victim.
Concerns were raised over the bot after three men were hauled to court for using it to prey on young victims.
One of them was a 25-year-old man. He lured two young girls into having sex with him by lying that he was a 15-year-old student at the Singapore Sports School.
