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Reporter: Andrew Del Greco
Internet Safety Month: Beware of Predators

Updated:

In May, the U.S. Senate declared June as "National Internet Safety Month," acknowledging a rise in the number of online predators. Senator Mike Crapo has sponsored a resolution making June "National Internet Safety Month," encouraging parents to be more aware of online sexual predators.

Jessica Tabor, Idaho Falls Mother: "My daughter plays games online but I monitor really closely that she's using sites that I know are okay."

Sherry Berg, Mother of Two: "There's a lot of bad stuff out there -- I think kids don't understand and they're too trusting."

The U.S. Senate says statistics show 35 million kids with the Internet readily available. And just under 15 percent of those age ten to 17 have been solicited sexually over the Internet.

Tabor: "I think there's a lot of safety measures you can use -- my cable company provides Internet service that has parent blockers."

Berg: "You have to talk to your kids and monitor them because they think they know more than they do."

Here's the results of a survey taken by http://www.isafe.org, which teaches kids and parents how to protect from online predators.

Almost all students are online at least one hour a week. More than one in six are on multiple times a day. About one in five open strange emails and tell their parents nothing about online friends. And almost one in ten report being sexually solicited during their online experience.

But it's not just the Internet parents are concerned about in this day and age. There are also cell phone conservation's kids have through text messaging -- hidden messages that may be undecipherable to many parents.

Berg: "I do know there's hidden codes because at my work I see kids texting -- they have their own language."

Tabor: "I know there's tricks to get around things, and all the abbreviations -- parents are like what does that mean?"

Here's a texting conversation that could very well be a predator trying to solicit a young person:

"YT? TOY." (You there? Thinking of you.)

"Q. CAN WE MIRL?" (Question, Can we meet in real life?)

"RUOK? I THINK ILU" (Are you okay? I think I love you.)

"P911!" (My parents are in the room!")

"OKB4N." (Okay, goodbye for now.)

Someone asking if a child can "MIRL," or meet in real life. And the child responding in code that a parent is nearby. If a parent was to discover that conservation, most would be clueless what the code words even meant.

Tabor: "My daughter already asks for a cell phone and she's 5 years old -- I don't think kids should have a cell phone until they can pay the bills and take all the responsibility that comes with it."

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