PGPD PGPD Investigates Social Media Extortion

[newsBot]

PGPD is warning parents about online threats and extortion attempts being made via social media through Instagram and Tik Tok targeting at least 4 middle schoolers and urging parents to report similar threats against kids immediately for police investigation.

The warning comes after 4 students at a county middle school received threatening demands via their social media accounts to pay $1000 or face harm.

Police say they are actively investigating and attempting to identify and arrest any individuals behind the threats.

Police were alerted after the school learned of the threats and contacted school security.

The children’s parents were immediately notified and picked up their children.

When the children refused to pay, more messages were sent with images of the children’s homes from Google maps.

Prince George's County police are not revealing the name of the school to protect the identities of the children and discourage similar schemes targeting students there.

Police are warning parents to monitor their children’s use of social media and limit their activities on the platforms.

Prince George’s County Police say any extortion threats targeting kids should be reported to police immediately. People should not attempt to handle the issue on their own.

Police say no one should ever pay money to an individual making a threat.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.