Reported by Heather Pick

Leet Speak is part of a complicated and potentially dangerous code designed to keep parents in the dark when children are chatting on the Internet.

Cracking the code could help protect your children.

P-911 stands for Parent Alert.

Niles Jeran uses Leet Speak. The 16 year old says the online lingo is growing in popularity with teens.

"All my friends use Leet Speak. I can see why parents would be worried just because it could, it can lead to danger."

And that's exactly why Internet safety experts are sounding a warning. The language is morphing into a dangerous dialect that's completely foreign to parents.
 
"It gives criminals, kids, whomever, another way to communicate covertly with one another without maybe parents catching on to what the kids are saying," Westerville Police Department Scott Dollison explained.

The underground culture is starting to seep into teen conversations. But it has been around for a while.

"'Leet' is a type of computer language first used by hackers and online gamers to kind of covertly communicate with one another," said Dollison.

Leet is short for "elite," because it's common for more advanced computer users. The language replaces letters with numbers and symbols.
    
For example, the number "3" represents an "e." The number "7" represents "t." The "a" is replaced with a "4."

There are even online dictionaries and translators to help parents decipher some of the information. Experts say if you don't know Leet Speak, you'll be left in the dark.

"Sometimes it seems like every day, something new pops up with the Internet," Dollison remarked. "It's something you have to focus on - stay on top of to be effective."

Niles' mother, Rossana, was shocked to learn how creative and cryptic Leet Speak has become. She says she trusts her teen, but still checks in with him all the time when he's online.

"Get involved with your child and try to stay, you know, in the loop of what's going on. It moves really fast!" she said.