Catching Child Predators by following the Money Trail

The Internet can be a dangerous place, especially for children. You never know what may lurk behind a "screen name" and the Internet is used by those involved in child pornograghy to distribute their immoral and illegal material.

Now a coalition between the financial services industry, ISP's, law enforcement and a child advocacy group will use a time-tested method of resolving Internet crime, which is if you want to find the culprit(s); follow the money.

USA Today is reporting:

"The financial institutions will report child porn sites they discover on the Web to a central tip line, slated to expand next month to receive the information. The companies will block transactions for online child porn or, if law enforcement opens an investigation, help track sellers and buyers."

"The Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography represents a new phase in the war against what has become a multibillion-dollar, international business. Internet service providers, including AOL, already report child porn sites they find."

For the article by USA Today, link here.

The intent of this effort will be to identify offenders, shut down sites and hopefully bring some of the people to justice.

This new tool was brought about with some hard work by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a cyber tipline, as well as, a link where anyone can report a sighting of a "missing child." This site also has a lot of valuable information for children and parents how to be Internet smart and is well worth a visit.