Wyoming’s wide-open spaces give many of us a sense of safety and distance from the dangers faced in larger cities. But the digital world has erased those distances — especially for our children. That is why preventing online child exploitation is a top priority for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, and why enforcement and prevention must go hand in hand.
The Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood leads the national response to online child exploitation by coordinating federal, state, tribal and local partners to investigate crimes, prosecute offenders and identify victims.
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month and presents an opportunity to focus on crimes that increasingly begin online, including sextortion and exploitation that can lead to the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Although sextortion does not fall under the federal definition of human trafficking — which is the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel a person into performing labor, services or commercial sex acts against their will — predators use similar grooming tactics to build relationships and gain trust.
