Ariel Winter played the smart and nerdy middle child Alex Dunphy on the hit sitcom Modern Family, and now she’s her acting skills to get pedophiles put behind the bars.
“I started working with an organization called SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse) a couple of years ago,” Winter told People. “They’re an amazing organization. They fight child sex trafficking online, which is usually the precursor to in-person trafficking.”
The actress found out about the organization through the Max TV show Undercover Underage, which followed SOSA’s missions.
In SOSA missions, women act as young girls and lure internet pedophiles in sting operations. They then arrange in person meetings and involve law enforcement to get the perpetrators arrested.
“The show just impacted me deeply because I was that kid so many times over that was preyed upon in person online,” Winter admitted.
“I was just like, God, I would love to be able to help be a part of that. I don’t want to say there’s a solution, but I would love to help take some of these people off the streets,” she added.
Sharing how it feels like to join the stings, she said: “It’s nerve-racking. We build decoy rooms in case the [perp] wants to see our rooms; we have personas. It’s very serious.”
“You’d be blown away by the number of people you encounter [who are Internet predators],” Ariel Winter concluded. “It could be anyone. The person sitting next to you or sleeping next to you. They don’t look like the ‘monsters’ you think they would.”
