The closure of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of children to spend months at home, prompting online child predators to ramp up their sexual enticement of minors and the posting of child sexual abuse material, according to the latest data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The number of reports of online child sexual abuse materials reported to the NCMEC during the first six months of this year surged 90 percent to more than 12 million, the center reported. Reports of predators enticing minors went up 93 percent to more than 13,200.
