WAUKESHA, Wis. –Wisconsin Attorney Josh Kaul spreading the word about internet and social media crimes as students head back to school.
Kaul held a press conference Monday with the Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children task force and Waukesha School Safety officers, as well as the Waukesha Police Department, to talk about digital concerns for students.
One cyber crime the task force is particularly concerned about is “sextortion,” a type of blackmail used to acquire sexual content from children and then coerce them into more sexual activity or sending money.
“I think it’s really important that parents, guardians, and responsible adults that have children in their lives really need to educate themselves because education is that power in having those conversations with kids. Making sure that kids know that there is someone that they can go to when they need it,” says Jesse Crowe, DOJ ICAC Commander. “We see children being impacted by sextortion, by cyberbullying. We know that this vastly impacts our youth and their families. And so anything that we can do to prioritize prevention so that we’re talking about ways that our communities can stay safe is worth it.”
Another Department of Justice is program is the Speak Up, Speak Out resource center for reporting cybercrimes and accessing related services.
Crowe also says that in the past year they have received over 11,000 cyber tips a 55% increase from 2022.
“Every school is impacted by school safety issues, and every school is impacted by cyber safety. This is universal and it’s no one’s fault. It’s not the child’s fault, it’s not the family’s fault,” says Trish Kiplin, Director of the Office of School Safety.
The DOJ says if a student becomes a victim of an internet crime they should first, stop responding and block the number or social media handle of the offender. Then, they should show the messages to a trusted adult. They also say that students should not delete any of the messages and report the crime to either local law enforcement or the DOJ’s website.
