A warning has been sent to parents in Billerica, Massachusetts, saying someone is blackmailing middle and high school aged girls for nude photos through Snapchat.
Billerica police say over the past couple of weeks, seven female students have reported that they have been contacted on the social media app by someone requesting naked photos of them.
"The people have been told if they don’t send the photographs that they’re going to contact their friends and send photos that are supposedly of them that have been photoshopped," said Billerica Police Deputy Chief Roy Frost.
Police say at least one girl did send a photo of herself out of fear.
"We want to push the message down to the students not to send anything, to talk to an adult or a parent, as well as the appropriate use of social media," said Frost.
Frost says two snapchat accounts have been involved and both are fraudulent accounts.
"Both accounts were of names that are of other students, but those students weren’t involved," said Frost.
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But investigators do believe the suspect is someone within the Billerica school community – because of how targeted the posts are.
Parents say while this is incredibly concerning, it’s not surprising.
"Once it’s out there you can’t get it back and I think it does just irreversible damage," said Billerica parent Cheryl Morris.
"It’s scary how quickly it has evolved and how easily people can trick kids into doing stuff like this," said Billerica PTO member Christina McLaughlin.
Billerica Police say anyone with information on who’s behind these snapchat accounts should contact them.
The suspect behind the posts could face serious charges, including child pornography.
