WATCH: FBI catches online predators

By: Janie Porter

Tampa, Florida – Less than 60 seconds into a chat session with suspected online predators, one member of the FBI’s Innocent Images Task Force already had about 15 propositions.

It was a rare glimpse at how the law enforcement catches pedophiles at play.

Philippe Dubord logged in as a 13-year-old girl, and almost instantaneously, his screen was littered with chat requests. Then five minutes later, a man turned on his video camera and began an explicit act.

The demonstration makes the government data more poignant.

The average child has seen pornography on the internet by age 11.

And, one in five children in a chat room is solicited for sex.

And it’s not just on websites you’ve heard of.

In addition to Facebook and MySpace, the FBI warns of gaming sites like WiiChat and XBox Live and chat sites like xanga.com and imvu.com.

Second Life, the virtual reality website, is also a place where kids shouldn’t be, according to the FBI.

In fact, Stacy Arruda, the head of the FBI’s Cyber Division, says children should never post pictures of themselves on the internet either.

“Kids have been solicited. IDs have been sent things like webcams and asked to send real pics of themselves through contact at this site,” said Scott Earl as he searched Second Life for terms like ‘sex’ and ‘fetish’ to find predators.

“Pretty much anything goes, and any kid can create an account,” he said.

The Innocent Images Task Force is comprised of members of the FBI, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Lakeland Police, Largo Police, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and United States Probation Office.

Since it was created in 1996, the FBI’s Cyber Division has arrested more than 6,100 people.

The FBI recommends parents visit NetSmartz to keep up on online slang so they can decode their children’s chat sessions. Children or their parents can report online predators to the National Center for Exploited Children through their online cyber tipline or by calling 800-The-Lost.