HOUSTON -- An online predator so cunning that authorities can't catch him could be obtaining personal information from your child while they chat, the KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters reported Wednesday.

It starts in certain chat rooms where young girls like to gather. And all over the country, girls are seeing the messages pop up on their screens. They sound like legitimate adult job interviews, promising thousands of dollars for modeling gigs.

"My original suspicion was that it was not a modeling agency. It's somebody wanting girls to get on cam and take their clothes off," said the president of the Kids Defense Team of Maryland.

The president, who asked not to be identified by name, asked the KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters for help. Their group has volunteers online every day hunting for predators.

So many of their undercover screen names are getting propositioned by a Houston-area man, the group figured new girls are becoming real victims every day.

But, those volunteers and police cannot catch him in the act because he is so careful.

"They would come on and say they would not talk to us unless we had a web camera to do the interview," the Kids Defense Team president said.

This Troubleshooters chat room investigation required setting up a Web camera on a real teen's computer. With approval from the teen's mother, the 14-year-old girl was glad to help.

The girl typed the things any curious teen would type and filled out the Houston-area man's questionnaire about her age and looks.

Then, Troubleshooter Stephen Dean told her what to type so that she would sound nervous as he asked her to pose in front of her Web camera.

"I'm looking for sexy and flirt," the man typed to the teen.

"I wish I knew more about you first. I'm getting kind of nervous," the teen typed to the man.

"Without a bra or anything under it, please. We will pay you for the shoot," the man typed.

Then, without telling the Troubleshooters anything about him or his so-called business, he asked the girl to start taking off her clothes. He promised she would make good money.

"It doesn't surprise me in the least," the Kids Defense Team president said.

Dean told the girl to ask the man, "How much am I going to have to take off? Will I make more money if I take more off?"

The man responded, "Yes, the more you do, the better your chances are."

Dean continued to push for a street name or something that would tell them a part of town the man lives in, but the man said he couldn't give out any information until the interview was completed.

"I'm trying not to freak out because I want to do this," Dean told the girl to type to the man.

"I could lose my job. I love my job," the man told the girl.

He tried one last time to coax her out of her clothes by saying he "loves helping people" become models.

The Troubleshooters were not able to track down the man, but now police are after him.

The Kids Defense Team president said it is a good thing the police are hot on his trail because he is getting his questionnaire out to plenty of teens hoping for big money.

"They will ask you anything and I can't believe that children are out there giving this information and parents aren't watching," the Kids Defense Team president said.

The Troubleshooters investigation is leading police to go after a subpoena to track down exactly who is typing these messages all over the country.

On The Net:

Kids Defense Team of Maryland
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Report Child Pornography, Exploitation To FBI