Facebook used to kidnap, traffic Indonesian girls

DEPOK, Indonesia— When a 14-year-old girl received a Facebook friend request from an older man she didn’t know, she accepted it. It was the beginning of a story that is repeating itself as sexual predators find new ways to exploit Indonesia’s growing obsession with social media.

The junior high student was kidnapped by the man, locked in a small room and raped repeatedly. She had been told she would be sent to an island known for child sex tourism but ended up being freed.

In the month since then, there have been at least seven other reports of Indonesian girls being abducted by people they met on Facebook. Abductors used that tactic against 27 of the 129 children reported missing this year to Indonesian child welfare officials.