The number of people investigated for sharing photos and sex videos of Maltese people without their consent has doubled as a police crackdown on the phenomenon spreads to schools.

Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil, a member of the vice squad, said that while 53 reports of compromising images being shared without consent had been investigated in the 2015-2016 academic year, the figure was expected to exceed 100 by the end of this school year.

He said that in many of the cases, the photos were of school-aged children, some in form two – or as young as 12 years old.

“From the reports we receive, we can see a pattern. A young couple send each other naked photos, or even videos, over messaging apps. And once they break up, the images make their way into the possession of third parties,” Mr Busuttil said.

The situation became more serious when sexually explicit images of minors ended up in the possession of adults. Mr Busuttil said some of them had made their way to international pornography websites in recent months. These, he was quick to add, were removed after they were brought to the attention of the police.

In 2014, a Tumblr blog loaded with nude images of Maltese women sparked fears of cyberbullying and ‘revenge porn’.

The website was eventually taken down, after the police received a number of reports and complaints from the women, many of whom had no idea how the images had landed online.

Sharing such images without consent is illegal, and from time to time, the abuse comes to the fore.

Earlier this year, a video of a woman engaged in a sex act with her partner spread through messaging apps, even prompting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to promise the woman justice.

Mr Busuttil said the police had recently launched a programme to try and tackle the increase in the number of naked selfies at the root: meaning at schools.

“We are meeting students to warn them about the dangers of taking and sending such images,” he said.

The officers recount the story of a girl who sent a photograph of herself only for it to end up being shared against her wishes.

“We ask them to think how they would feel if they came across images their parents had taken when they were their age,” he said, adding that raising awareness was the best solution.