Scammers are tricking young women into sending them nude pictures of themselves by posing as professional photographers from modelling agencies on Facebook. The scammers create fake Facebook accounts, trick young female Facebook users into becoming their friends. Once the scammers have enough friends, they will claim they are looking for attractive young female modellers for their photo shoots. They will then convince the young females into sending them nude photos of themselves, but once the photos are sent, the scammers will use them to blackmail the young females.
The scammers will continue to ask their victims to send more nude photos of themselves, by threatening to show the nude photos they have already sent, to their Facebook friends, or post them on the internet for everyone to see.
It is recommended that online users NOT send nude photos of themselves via emails, social media websites, or other electronic means over the internet, because once those photos are sent, they can reach millions of people worldwide in a matter of seconds and can be difficult to remove from the internet, if they fall into the wrong hands.
Photos posted online can be copied or reproduced, and can continuously be reposted online, which makes it very difficult or virtually impossible to completely remove them, even with help from the big internet companies or tech giants. But, victims of such scam should still report it to the police or their local authorities for assistance.
Parents are advised to supervise their teenagers' social media activities, because they are most vulnerable to these type of scams.