Young online game players are at risk of breaching the law because of their confusion between reality and the cyber world, a study revealed yesterday.

The study was separately conducted by the Consumer Council, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and Breakthrough - an organization which helps youths solve their problems.

The study found that a large number of youngsters know little about cyber crimes, such as stealing other game players' accounts.

"Youths consider it (stealing somebody else's online game account) is not real, but just another game of fun," said Breakthrough's researcher Tiger Chan Chi-fu.

More than 30 per cent of the 367 respondents in Breakthrough's survey said they did not know cyber crimes are criminal acts.

The survey by the federation indicated that more than 70 per cent of the 515 respondents thought the chance of getting caught for cyber crimes was low. James Mok Hon-fai, the federation's research supervisor, said that lack of knowledge among youngsters about cyber crimes was to blame for such thinking.

"We should put more efforts on public education and promotional programmes regarding cyber crimes," Mok said.

"The standard of cyber ethics is low among young game players so that they simply consider online-theft as part of the game," said Wu Ka-kei, development assistant of Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association.

The groups agreed that it is important to enhance the awareness and the understanding of youths about cyber crimes.

"We suggest that youth awareness of the nature of cyber crime be enhanced," said Pamela Chan Wong-shui, chief executive of the Consumer Council.

She said parents and teachers should provide more guidance to their children on how to protect their cyber property, such as online game accounts.

"It is also important that the police put more efforts on dealing with cyber crimes involving children and youths," Chan said.

(HK Edition 05/22/2004 page3)