The group, Malaysians Against Pornography (MAP), said it conducted a study last year. It claimed that almost 89% of children aged 13 to 17 that it surveyed had been victims of online grooming.

Details of the survey were not available.

The head of the group, Dr Shamsuriani Md Jamal, said parents need to be more internet-savvy. “Parents must educate their children not to browse any pop-up windows on the internet especially if the pop-ups involve nudity and indecent acts,” she said.

She advised parents to constantly monitor their children’s activities on social media and to set up privacy functions to prevent unidentified people from hacking their children’s online accounts.

She said the survey results were “very shocking”. Children are not supposed to be exposed to pornography, especially online grooming. “Parents need to educate and warn their children against accepting unknown ‘friend request’ because people online could pose as anyone they wanted to be.”

MAP conducts free online courses on its website for parents who want to improve internet literacy.

Shamsuriani said that those involved in online grooming would create a fake social media account to befriend children and adolescents, subsequently coercing them to send nude pictures, and in a worst-case scenario inviting the children out to commit sexual crimes.