An online game aimed at girls has fallen into the hands of “dirty old men” who coax young players into sending nude photos in exchange for unlocking paid features, net users have claimed.

In a May 31 Weibo microblog post, “Hacker Kaiwen,” a user with more than 366,000 followers, wrote that adults prey on girls who play “Little Flower Elf,” a game that revolves around dressing up virtual characters. Accompanying the post were screenshots of chat conversations in which net users posing as young girls contacted people advertising in-game gifts. The conversations show that the “girls” were asked to video chat naked.

According to Hacker Kaiwen, the phenomenon has been around since 2012 and is still common today.

Sixth Tone was unable to reach the game’s developer, Shanghai Taomee Network Technology Co. Ltd., for comment. However, an unnamed employee told The Beijing News on Thursday that the company had been taking steps to combat the problem since September 2015, and that there are no longer any in-game offers directed toward minors. The employee speculated that “rivals” were behind the scandal, and added that the company would file a lawsuit against “the people responsible” for the online claims.

In “Little Flower Elf,” players can dress up their characters in a wide variety of virtual clothes, make friends, and complete in-game tasks. Many of the game’s young female players look forward to the new collections of dresses released every week, whose items range from 30 to 50 yuan ($5 to $7). Leveling up characters is significantly easier if players spend money.

A 20-year-old “Little Flower Elf” player who would not give her name for fear of legal repercussions told Sixth Tone that she had played the game since its launch in 2009, and that she had become aware of the nudes-for-rewards phenomenon a long time ago. “Kids want the new collection, but it’s too expensive for them — and those animals see this as an opportunity,” she said, referring to the exploiters.

To warn young girls, some net users have even taken matters into their own hands, carrying out sting operations and sharing chat screenshots online. According to a post in an online forum dedicated to “Little Flower Elf,” a 10-minute video chat earns players 10 yuan, while a permanent sugar daddy relationship can earn them as much as 1,000 yuan. “You have to be naked in the video call,” wrote one user in a shared screenshot. 

“They always choose the low-level users — who are usually naive young children — as targets,” the 20-year-old player said. She added that though most players will report accounts found to engage in this behavior, it is hard to stop the people behind them. “Even if their accounts are blocked, it’s easy for them to register new ones,” she said.

Mia, a 13-year-old “Little Flower Elf” player, told Sixth Tone that although she had seen posts from people offering to pay for in-game upgrades, she didn’t think her peers would ever fall for such tricks. “Teenagers should know how to protect themselves,” she said. “If the photos were to be exposed, how could they live like that?”

According to several players who spoke with Sixth Tone, the users who offer money in exchange for nude photos usually post their contact information in their profiles and the game’s public chat room, where sending a message costs 1 yuan. On June 1, “Little Flower Elf” announced that they had closed the chat room; it was reopened on Friday, but only to users who link their accounts to a mobile phone number.

Lai Weinan, a Shenzhen-based lawyer who specializes in cases involving the protection of women, and sexual abuse of minors, told Sixth Tone that there have been previous similar cases in which online predators tricked young girls into sending naked photos with promises that they would help them become famous. However, this kind of online behavior is difficult for police to root out, he said, and even more difficult to punish under the law.

“If the men soliciting photos use them for profit, then they can be legally punished,” Lai said. “But if they only collect the photos for private use, they’re harder to find and harder to police.”

Editor: Kevin Schoenmakers.

(Header image: relaximages/Cultura/VCG)