HERNDON, Va. (DC News Now) -- Police in Herndon are warning residents to be wary of a scheme that uses Google Maps to try to get money. In a post on the X platform on Thursday, the Herndon Police Department (HPD) said that several residents reported getting emails containing an image of their home from Google Maps and their address. HPD said that the email would threaten to release "compromising photos" of the recipient if they did not pay the sender bitcoin. Maryland State Police warn residents of Gmail scheme Police warned residents that these emails are a part of the scheme. "Do not engage with the sender and do not send any kind of payment," HPD said in its post. Police said that this type of threat is hard to trace. Similar schemes have been reported in Maryland and D.C. in the past week.