A German schoolboy paid bullies $22,000.
The ten-year-old boy - who was blackmailed by a number of bullies into handing over a total of $22,000 from his parents - is unlikely to get any of it back because the offenders are under the legal age of responsibility.
One tormentor threatened to send an elder brother to attack him if he did not pay, another sought protection money and the third demanded money to keep quiet about the affair.
A police spokesman said: "The victim's parents kept large amounts of cash at home... the parents did not notice the disappearance of the money."
Only a small percentage of the money has been retrieved as the children spent most of it on computer games, clothes and shoes.
