CRIMES involving social media in North Yorkshire have risen over the last five years.

People are increasingly using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to target their victims, with the latest figures showing there were 324 crimes involving social media in 2015, compared to just 60 in 2011.

The figures increased steadily between 2011 and 2014 after a rise of just six between 2011 and 2012.

However, the number of crimes using social media hit double figures in 2013 when 112 incidents were logged by North Yorkshire Police, and they shot up again in 2014 to 182.

A 17-year-old boy from York was locked up for 12 months in November last year after he demanded two school boys send him indecent images of themselves on the picture and video messaging app Snapchat.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, used social media to blackmail two 14-year-olds between January and May 2015 before police found 362 inappropriate pictures and 36 videos on various electronic devices when they searched his home.

Temporary Detective Superintendent Matt Walker, head of Cybercrime at North Yorkshire Police, warned people to stop putting themselves at risk through their daily use of popular websites and apps on their smartphones.

He said: "As social media use is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, we expect the numbers of reported crimes involving it in some way will also rise significantly.

"Some users of social media think that they are immune from the law and that they can say and do whatever they like on social media without any consequences. This is not the case. Any reports of harassment, bullying, malicious threats and allegations are all taken very seriously by the police.

"Whether personal, financial or sexual, the fact is that cybercrime is a real threat in modern day society."