HOUSTON -- Internet predators are using instant messaging as a way to lure young girls into providing nude pictures for money, the Local 2 Troubleshooters reported Monday.

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They targeted a local 13-year-old girl, who then alerted the Troubleshooters. She is lightning fast when it comes to online messages with others her age.

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Online Predator Promises Cash For Revealing Photos

"I was just talking to my friends and just saying, 'What's up?' and talking about what happened at school, and then I just get this instant message from God knows who," the unidentified girl said.

Her mother thought instant messaging was safe. Since chat rooms have always been off-limits, the mother figured her daughter only instant messaged with people she knew.

But think again.

The online prowler found the teenager anyway.

"All of a sudden, they say that they want pictures of me topless," the girl said.

They offered her $200 per picture, saying "legally we are required to pay you by law." They told her they were a legitimate corporation with a Web site, but she did not buy it.

"Well, immediately, I thought pervert and I thought it was a fraud," the girl said.

So, she e-mailed the Local 2 Troubleshooters. Their cameras were in place when she chatted some more.

Her mother watched as the proposal came across the screen.

"First, we need a pose just like that, but with the thumbs down, with the shirt and bra off," the girl read.

"Oh my goodness," the mother said.

The Troubleshooters' investigation found that girls are getting offers like this all over the country -- just what the mother feared.

"I'm afraid of what would happen to the kids, because I know friends of hers that would never have thought twice about it. Two-hundred dollars means too much to them," the mother said.

She was even more amazed that the Local 2 Troubleshooters traveled several states away to get to the bottom of the offers. She was startled by how Local 2 discovered they were able to contact children.

Here's how it works: The chats are very methodical. The business has a strict procedure to follow.

After sending the instant message, they ask girls to send a "thumbs up" picture to make sure they are really chatting with a girl.

They tell her the check or cash would be sent to her, wrapped in a popular teen magazine so no one would know. That means they need her home address along with the nude pictures.

"Well, two things come to mind -- either you send them the pictures and that's the last time you ever talk to those people. Or they actually pretend to give you the Seventeen magazine and when you go out there to get it, they take you and you never get to see your family again," the girl said.

"I mean, they could take her from school or they could take her from here, or whatever, if they knew our address. And I would never know who took her," the mother said.

The Web site offered even more money if the girl would do more -- like send them nude pictures of a friend or send pictures of either girl touching herself or both posing topless together.

The Troubleshooters typed, "I want to make sure I get paid," and then asked for details about the company.

They told them their Web site is called "Sweet" something. The Troubleshooters logged on and even though no name or address is listed on the Web site, they messaged that they are headquartered in Arizona and the owner is named "Scott."

Public records led Local 2 to Glendale, Ariz., where the Troubleshooters tracked down Scott.

Neighbors said he runs the "Sweet" Web site from his home. He declined to be interviewed, but he e-mailed Local 2 that, even though his site promises a "team of experts is working day and night" to find new shots of little girls, he insists all of the photos on his sites are staged with local adults.

He said that an imposter is using his company's name to trick girls into posing nude. He claimed that he has received angry e-mails from some of the girls asking where is their money.

One girl sent so many nude pictures, she was promised $1,000. Scott said that he always tells the girls, "You got ripped off."

If they are not being paid, there is little the girls could do about it without involving their parents or the police, which is unlikely.

So, how are they finding children -- even those who are not allowed in chat rooms? The Local 2 investigation found how easy it is on America Online's free instant messaging service.

Anyone can sign on and click that they want to "find a buddy" with common interests. That's when you choose movies, rock music, or whatever, and AOL gives you hundreds of screen names. Many seem to be kids. You can even choose what city the kids are in, then start sending any message.

"I was just scared to death when somebody found her online that way, and now I've got to figure out what else I can do because I don't see how I can let her online if they can search her out like that," the mom said.

AOL said that its AIM instant message service is free and geared toward adults, so it has fewer safeguards than the paid AOL service.

But spokesman Andrew Weinstein said, "the tools are definitely there to make sure this type of solicitation by an unknown person cannot occur." He said parents could set it up to block unknown screen names and limit a child to only accept messages from pre-approved names.