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Several U.S. banks have intensified their efforts to spot sex trafficking payments following the federal shutdown of Backpage.com, including by cross-referencing their own know-your-customer data against dozens of other websites that advertise potentially illicit adult services. Federal prosecutors took Backpage offline in April 2018 after accusing the website's founders of collecting and laundering more than $500 million in almost entirely illicit proceeds, and secured a guilty plea from chief executive Carl Ferrer, who agreed to testify against his colleagues and forfeit all trade secrets, bank accounts, cryptocurrency and other assets associated with his firm. The seizure of Backpage, which was...