Sussex Police has wared that older men are causing “distress” to schoolchildren by logging onto a new chat site and “misusing” it.

Officers have now issued a warning to schools about new site OOVOO where up to 12 people can video chat with one another.

On its homepage OOVOO said people can “send cool video messages” but police confirmed the site – popular with school pupils in the county – was also being used by older men.

A Sussex Police statement said: “Please be aware that a site called OOVOO is becoming popular with Sussex school pupils.

“It is a chat room site where your children can video chat to up to 12 of their friends at any one time.

“Sussex Police have received information that people, older males in particular, are misusing the site, causing distress to younger people.

“Please be aware that your children have control over who they speak to on OOVOO but they need to set their privacy settings and to only accept requests from people they know.

“It is extremely rare for people to hack into an account, however if you believe this is the case you should make contact with OOVOO themselves immediately.

“The site has information on how to set the privacy settings and who to contact in case of a problem.”

Bexhill High School and St Richard’s Catholic School, in Bexhill, have issued letters to parents and carers of pupils warning them.

This is not the first time Sussex Police has warned about misusing social media.

In July last year The Argus revealed schoolgirls in the county as young as 12 had sent indecent images of themselves to adults after being approached via social networking sites.

Police and schools in Sussex were forced to issue an urgent warning after at least one girl sent explicit images of her body to a man who encountered her via instant messaging site Kik.

The man then encouraged the girl to meet him in Brighton.

Thankfully she refused and Sussex Police were informed.

If there is a problem then please contact Sussex Police by telephoning the non-emergency number 101.