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Online predators targeting children with impostor Instagram accounts

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Parents in North Carolina are noticing a disturbing trend: online predators targeting children by using impostor Instagram accounts.

Police say the impostors use the names of teens and children and then send sexually explicit material to other children through the fake accounts.

Wake County parent Haley Boyer learned last week that there was an account under her son's name and administrators at other schools reported similar incidents.

"The main concern they've all had is the level of inappropriateness of the images, and also the concern that it is a fake account,” said Thales Academy administrator Melissa Edwards.

Boyer said she immediately reported the account to Instagram, following Instagram's protocol for reporting an impersonation account.

She also sent requested documents and details of what happened but said Instagram will not remove the account.

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