A warning is going out to parents and students on Long Island after the same hackers that broke into the online accounts of celebrities are now targeting some teens in our area. They are posting inappropriate photos of them for everyone to see.
«You know what, you’re stupid enough to upload a photo of yourself to a phone or a computer, anything can happen, but I don’t think anybody realizes the grand scale of this,» said Cliff Pfleger, daughter’s photo used on website.
Certainly Cliff Pfleger didn’t and he’s in the security business, but on Friday he learned that a photo of his own teenaged daughter who attends Ward Melville high school was uploaded without her permission to a catalog site. There are many, many more photos including naked ones of other teenaged girls from schools all over.
Pfleger released a photo to Eyewitness News because it was far less compromising than those of other girls on the site and he wants parents to be more aware.
«Some of them have clothes on and some of them don’t, and the ones that have clothes on, people saying hey, you have any naked photos of these girls please upload,» Pfleger said.
Sources tell Eyewitness News it’s an internationally based site, the same one that posted nude photos of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence. Only now, you can search by state and users are encouraged to «post all wins».
And in New York for example, there are dozens and dozens of schools all over Long Island where users are posting photos, both new and old.
«So it was brought to our attention four to five months ago. We’ve been monitoring it mostly for child pornography,» a Suffolk County police officer said.
They say prosecution is difficult, but getting your own photo removed is possible if you reach out to police or the site master.
«24 hours later I did get an email back that says deleted,» Pfleger said.
Most importantly, tell your own children not to post any compromising photos of themselves.
Suffolk police are now sharing this message with students not only in High School, but as young as third grade because some of them have phones.
Long Island School Districts Targeted by Porn Website:
Center Moriches
Sachem East
Syosset
Manhasset
Valley Stream
Kings Park
Smithtown
Massapequa
Rocky Point
Northport
Harborfields
Farmingdale
Sayville
Bellport
West Babylon
Franklin Square
Bayport Bluepoint
Cold Spring Harbor
Wantagh
Island Park
Levittown
Commack
Lingwood
Hicksville
Islip West
Deer Park
Miller Place
Mepham
William Floyd
Islip
Plainedge
Brentwood
Lindenhurst
Connetquot
North Babylon
Riverhead