Prosecutor Scott Coffina’s team has been busy with the project called "Operation Safe Quarantine."
"Our office has received 52 cyber tips from March 17 through July 16, 2020, compared to 29 cyber tips during the same time last year,” Coffina told KYW Newsradio at a press conference at the county’s forensic lab in Pemberton. Throughout New Jersey, tips to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force have tripled over the same time period.
With kids at home more, they’re online more. And that’s prime time for predators all too skilled at luring kids, he said.
“It’s very important that parents monitor their children’s internet activity," he said. "They need to have their passwords. They need to have the candid conversations with their children, and that there’s no privacy in our house and at your age with your telephone.”
Also, he says, check the apps they use and keep a close eye on that gaming console. That’s one way a predators might start to chat up a potential victim.