[0:00]The news at 6:00 on RTV 6. We begin tonight with a case of internet extortion. It is a crime that we don't often hear about, but it is one that police say is growing by leaps and bounds every day. And this latest victim is an Indianapolis teenager who is being blackmailed to keep a compromising video off the internet. RTV 6's Jack Reinhardt joins us live tonight from our studio on Monument Circle with details on this. Jack? Well, Ted, the incident occurred over the weekend. The ransom deadline has since passed, but no money has changed hands. And as far as the victim and the police know, the perpetrator has yet to make good on the threat. Friday night, a far West side teen journeyed into unfamiliar cyber space and met an adult female online. The conversation turned suggestive, then sexual, before the young man disrobed and performed a sex act on Skype. The female then told her young victim to pay a $500 ransom to keep the video offline. So far, the victim and his family have paid only an emotional price. Well, of course, they're embarrassed from what I've been told.
[1:05]Uh, certainly they're not wanting this to be known, that at least or minimum the fact that they're embarrassed or the fact that they get extorted and money's money's spent or it has an effect on their livelihood or their careers. The internet has become a place of pseudo anonymity where nothing is private and where perpetrators give their victims no avenue of escape. Those who pray in the vulnerable extort money or more sexual images from the victim. The State Police internet crimes against children's task force say they now see extortion cases like this daily. My suspicion is, even though I don't certain, the ones that pay off, we in law enforcement don't ever hear about. Uh, in the case of that individual, um, he chose not to pay off, and the person carried through on their threat and placed that video on the internet at which point he contacted law enforcement. Earlier this month, Zionsville schools issued a warning to thousands of current and past students about inappropriate pictures posted on an internet website. In addition to tracking down the victims, police are actively searching for the predator, and police are warning juveniles and their parents that on the internet, there is no privacy, nor anonymity. It's open to being shared with the entire world. Um, and you you never know who you can trust out there via the internet and you don't know for sure who you're engaging out there. Now, IMPD has tracked the name and a phone number of the perpetrator to a woman in California. The ransom was supposed to be paid to a man in the Philippines, and IMPD is considering whether or not to ask the FBI to join the investigation. And tonight, a Westside teen and his family are more than just a little worried that a chance meeting in cyber space may be out there for all the world to see. Reporting live downtown, Jack Reinhardt RTV 6.
