Nutley Teen Sent Explicit Photos To Instagram Scamster: Police

NUTLEY, NJ — A teen in Nutley recently sent explicit photos of himself to someone on Instagram, believing they would send him money in return. But instead of cash, all he got was a threat to expose the photos, police said Thursday.

The Nutley Police Department released the following statement about the attempted fraud, which was reported on Jan. 7:

“Police responded to a convenience store when a 16-year-old boy appeared to be upset. It was determined that he was communicating with someone on Instagram and sent explicit photos of himself to them believing they would send him money. Instead, the caller threatened to expose the photos to all his contacts along with his photo unless he sent gift cards to them. No money was sent.”

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, Nutley police said.

“However, it has been our experience that fraudsters on the opposite end [of a scam] use dead-end communication such as disposable phones, and an untraceable IP [address],” a police spokesperson said. “We always try to ascertain the caller, however it rarely directs us to an actual person.”

Police haven’t been able to determine the identity, gender or age of the alleged scamster, he added.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.