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The Dangers of MySpace.com for Teens

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FBI

MySpace Teen Found in Jordan, Returns Home

By Darla Sitton
CBN News

CBN.com – (CBN News) - A Detroit teenager is back at home tonight after running off to the Middle East to meet a man she met online.

It is the latest example of what can happen when kids start chatting over the Internet with people they don't know.

The scenario is becoming all too familiar: young girls chatting with and even trying to meet strangers they connect with on social Web sites like Myspace.com.

Texas officials recently caught a 38-year-old man trying to hook up with a 14-year-old girl he met on the site. Authorities stopped him, and he is now in custody.

This time, 16-year-old Katherine Lester persuaded her parents to get her a passport for a visit to Canada. Instead, she was planning to fly to one of the most dangerous places in the world -- to meet a Palestinian man living in the West Bank.

Her family was frantic when they found out she was missing. Her sister, Mary Lester, went on TV to beg her, "Please come home, Katherine, please."

The FBI sketched out the details. Katherine was on her way to meet a stranger she had been corresponding with on Myspace.com. He told her he was 25 -years -old and lived in Jericho.

"She had met someone that she really seemed to care about quite a bit," said Dan Roberts of the FBI.

Officials say she boarded a flight in Detroit, headed to New York - then on to Israel. They tracked her down during a layover in Amman, Jordan, and persuaded her to go home.

And while it does not appear that Katherine has broken any laws, the FBI is trying to find out if the man she met online is who he claimed to be.

Myspace.com released a statement today saying it takes security seriously, but it also says that parents must teach their teens how to be safe and smart online.

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