Police are investigating 513 cases of deepfake sex crimes, a more than 70 percent jump in about 40 days, the National Police Agency said Wednesday.

The number, tallied as of Tuesday, compares with only 297 cases at the end of July.

Should the current trend hold, the annual number of deepfake crime cases reported to police is expected to reach a record high. The number of such cases has been on a steady rise from 156 cases in 2021, to 160 cases in 2022 and 180 cases in 2023.

From January to September this year, 318 suspects were detained over deepfake sex crime charges, and 251 of them, or 78.9 percent, were teens.

Many victims of deepfake sex crimes were also in their teens, with 62 percent of the total number of victims being teenagers last year.

Since last month, police have been carrying out a special crackdown on deepfake crimes.

Source: Yonhap News Agency