Recently, the Greater Sudbury Police Service Cybercrime Unit has received complaints about images posted on personal social media accounts being screenshot or saved by other unknown individuals and then used on websites in order to request intimate images of the original person in the photo.
We would like to remind social media users to ensure that privacy settings are set accordingly. Make sure that you know and trust the individuals who have sent you a friend/follow requests before confirming/accepting them. Be mindful of the images/videos that you are posting on social media. Many terms and conditions of social media websites indicate that once images/videos are posted on the site, you relinquish ownership of them.
We would also like to remind community members that sharing intimate images/videos without the consent of the individual(s) in the image/video is a Criminal Offence. In cases where the parties are under 18 years of age, intimate images may be Child Pornography.
For assistance in securing social media accounts, please refer to the contact information below:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/help
Instagram: https://help.instagram.com
Snapchat: https://support.snapchat.com
YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtube
The Cybercrime Unit encourages community members to visit www.cybertip.ca/internetsafety for information on how to prevent your loved ones from being exploited online, as well as, resources for children/teens who have fallen victim to exploitation. Cybertip.ca is Canada’s tip line to report Child Exploitation online. You may also contact the Greater Sudbury Police Service directly to report Internet Child Exploitation by calling 705- 675-9171.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service Cyber Crime Unit is part of the Ontario Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet which has been made possible by a grant from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Ministry of the Attorney General
