The number reports of online crimes against children, submitted to the national Safer Internet Centre, has gone up more than six times compared to last year, Antoaneta Vassileva from the Safer Internet Centre told the BNR.

99% of the reports concern abuse of girls. All reports are connected with sexual content, sexual harassment and exploitation of children. The age affected most is 10 to 14.

“We are a secondary partner to Cybersecurity. We shall work with children and parents to protect children and to acquaint them with the risks, and to develop their abilities to tackle all risk situations online, and so they will know what to do in a high-risk situation,” Antoaneta Vassileva said.

The Safer Internet Centre has processed almost 300,000 reports since the beginning of the year.