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Parents Warned About 'Sextortion' and Teens on the Web

As more kids head back to school in the Philadelphia area this week, law enforcement officials are warning them and their parents about a new online threat called "sextortion."

KYW's Brad Segall reports the main targets of this new Internet trend are teenage girls and young women. Predators can hack into social networking sites and ferret out compromising personal information according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman:

"For example, they obtained sensitive information and then they get their victims to do things just so that that personal information will not be revealed to embarrass the victim further."

This type of activity turned up on Ferman's radar screen because of a 24-year-old Alabama man who tried to extort more than four dozen girls and women with threatening e-mails demanding they pose for nude photos. The case had a Montgomery County connection.

Teens who send intimate images of themselves in texts or show off their bodies for webcam cameras are vulnerable and can get caught up in activity that can spiral out of control.

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