Rightfully acknowledging human trafficking as a “crime against humanity,” the Defense Department also stressed the adverse impacts of human trafficking, both domestically and internationally.
The Department of Defense is furthermore encouraging people to take steps to educate themselves about human trafficking. This can be as simple as visiting DOD Combating Trafficking in Persons online to learn more information.
Warnings about sextortion
The Defense Department wants Americans to be fully aware of sextortion and the threats it poses to society.
The FBI notes that sextortion occurs when someone is manipulated into sending explicit images of themselves, then later blackmailed after sending these images. In many cases, predators pretend to be romantic interests of the people they are targeting in order to obtain compromising photos of them.
Parents especially should know about the growing trend of children being targeted by perpetrators of sextortion.
In some of the most tragic cases, minors have taken their own lives after predators manipulated them into sending compromising images and then began blackmailing them.
