A safety message from Police Scotland’s Safer Communities Cybercrime Harm Prevention Unit on the “Send Me A Pic?” trend, and resources to help parents, families and carers teach their children and young people about the risks and support available:

Sharing photos and videos online is part of daily life for many people enabling them to share their experiences, connect with friends and record their lives and these can be shared as text messages, emails, posted on social media or increasingly via mobile messaging apps such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram or TikTok to name but a few.

Regrettably amongst our children and young people there is a common trend of sharing sexual imagery of themselves such as nude pics on messaging apps. This is a concerning issue which can put them at risk of embarrassment, bullying and increased vulnerability to sexual exploitation. The second anyone posts anything online, they lose control over what happens to it, it can be re-shared, photo shopped, or re-posted…sometimes years later!

We empower our children and young people with life skills necessary to keep them safe and resilient in the real world, skills which are just as necessary for their lives in the online world. We must have that conversation with them about the dangers of nude pics and sexting, and create that opportunity for them to share any concerns they might have.

CEOP and Thinkuknow have launched a new resource to assist parents, carers and professionals with support on this issue: Send Me A Pic, three sessions for 12 – 14 year olds on issues around sharing nude images.

The following pages also feature useful and relevant resources:

If you have been a victim of crime, and it is not an ongoing emergency, you can report this to Police Scotland on 101.

Adapted from the Police Scotland Safer Communities Cybercrime Harm Prevention Unit alert, also available to view or download as a pdf file.