Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
Police are warning of a new scam making use of the TextNow app after an incident that targeted a 16-year-old Shawano girl.
According to police, the girl thought she was exchanging text messages with a cousin until the supposed cousin asked her to send a picture of herself in bra and panties.
The girl notified her parents, instead, and they reported the incident to police Wednesday.
Police say the perpetrator apparently hacked into a TextNow account, gaining access to that account’s cellphone contacts. The app allows for text messages to be sent to cellphones from laptops and computers.
When an account is accessed, the hackers then will send text messages to the contacts. To the cell phones users, the messages appear to be coming from the account holder.
Though this is the first official report of such an incident, others have since said similar incidents had happened to them, Capt. Jeff Heffernon said.
Heffernon said it can be difficult sometimes to be certain that you’re really exchanging messages with the person you think you are.
“But obviously if you start getting requests for something like child porn, it needs to be reported,” he said.
Heffernon said parents need to speak to their children about the dangers of constantly evolving technology and make sure their children are Internet-savvy enough to catch on to and report suspicious behavior.
He said users of such technology also have to be aware that any pictures sent over a cellphone or the Internet never go away.
Heffernon warned about apps, such as Snapchat, that claim pictures taken and sent last only a few seconds after they are opened by the viewer.
“That’s not true,” he said. “It ends up on the hard drive. That digital file is there.”