Authorities are warning Peninsula residents of a child pornography image that is circulating on the internet and could possibly forward on its own when opened.
At least one York County resident has reported receiving an image of child pornography on Facebook Messenger, according to the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office.
The image depicts an adult male with a young female who is “clearly” a juvenile, according to the sheriff’s office.
The image has been circulating on the internet since at least 2015, and investigators on the local, state and federal level are all looking into its origin.
“This image may be the result of hackers or other software that propagates itself through Facebook messenger that will randomly send this image to other Facebook Messenger contacts of infected accounts,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities warn that the image may share itself when the message is opened – or could infect the recipient’s Facebook Messenger.
The sheriff’s office says Facebook users should not open any message from a person they do not know.
If a user does open a message with illegal content, they should immediately notify their local law enforcement agency.
The sheriff’s office also warned that the video or image may be posted on user’s timelines or appear in their news feed.
“If the image or video depicts child pornography and someone knowingly forwards it to any of their Facebook or other contacts, they could be subject to criminal charges for distribution of child pornography,” the sheriff’s office said.
Here are some tips from the sheriff’s office to avoid these images and videos:
- Do not accept Facebook or Messenger requests from anyone you do not personally know.
- There are several security settings in Facebook. The default for Facebook accounts is for everything you post to be public, which means anyone can see what you post or what others post on your timeline. There are several sharing choices on Facebook: Public, friends only and friends of friends. Unless your Facebook Page if for a business and you want it public, you should change your settings to only share with friends.
- In the video settings, turn off “Automatically Play Videos”. This way when a video appears on your timeline you will have to click on the video or video link to get it to play.
- If you are already a Facebook friend with someone and you receive a friend request from that person, do not accept it, unless your friend has contacted you to tell you they created a new Facebook account. Your friend’s account may have been hacked or someone may have created an account under your friend’s identity and is trying to gain access to your Facebook account.
- If you believe your Facebook account has been compromised, change your password and notify Facebook.
- If you receive an image or video from a friend on Facebook Messenger that only contains a link to click on and no explanation, or was unexpected, do not open or click on the link unless you were expecting it from your friend. Check with your friend to see if they sent you something before opening it. The link may be an attempt to infect your computer or Messenger account with a bug or virus.
