Hong Kong pimps like phonecams

Sex trade brokers -- okay, pimps -- in Hong Kong are MMS'ing color snapshots of prostitutes to potential johns via cellphone, according to a South China Morning Post item on Tuesday.
Police are investigating the phenomenon and have been checking the cellphones of pimps arrested in raids in the city's red light districts, according to the newspaper. No one has so far been arrested for soliciting by cellphone, however. A police source quoted by the newspaper said: "The first to maximise the technology are the pimps in the red light area. Before they make the deal they show the client a photo preview on the cellphone." Hong Kong residents have one of the highest rates of cellphone ownership in the world with more than eight out of 10 of the territory's 6,8 million population owning a handset. New-style phones with colour screens are increasingly popular in the gadget-hungry city.
Link Discuss (via gizmodo, via pho list). BoingBoing reader Chico quips: "We put the HO in phone."

Xeni Jardin

Boing Boing partner, Boing Boing Video host and executive producer. Xeni.net, Twitter, Google+. Email: xeni@xeni.net.

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