There’s been an uptick of inappropriate use of social media, especially from youths, in Needham and surrounding Massachusetts towns, local police said Monday.
Needham police said Snapchat is typically the most problematic social media platform, though they didn’t share more information on specific incidents or prevalant trends powering the local uptick. But they did say that their school resource officers regularly take reports of extortion and dissemination, as well as other crimes.
“Many times, juveniles believe the person on the other end of the phone is another ‘juvenile’ who is willing to share pictures. We promise, it’s not. It’s traditionally someone overseas extorting them for money,” police said.
They shared several reasons why it is “important not to send inappropriate pictures on Snapchat (or any platform),” including that sending explicit images, even on platforms where messages disappear, opens up the possibility of criminal charges or screenshots that can be shared or used for extortion.
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