U.S. says 255 suspects caught in nine-nation child sexual predator sweep

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities have arrested 255 alleged child predators in the United States and eight other countries in an operation led by a U.S. agency that illustrated a growing trend called "sextortion" in which children are blackmailed into providing pornographic images of themselves, officials said on Monday.

The month-long Operation iGuardian in June, led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is part of a larger effort to identify and rescue victims of online sexual exploitation and arrest their abusers as well as others who own, trade and produce images of child pornography, officials said.