SHELBURNE — Police are investigating a series of scam emails that threaten to share a resident’s personal information if they don’t pay the sender using Bitcoin.

Detective Tucker Jenkins said the Shelburne Police Department has received eight reports from Shelburne, Buckland and Charlemont residents who have received alarming emails. The emails all include PDF attachments of letters stating that the sender was able to use their phone as a remote device to mirror the resident’s screen, allowing them to access the resident’s personal information, social media accounts, contacts, camera and more.

The letters state that the recipient must pay the sender using Bitcoin in exchange for having their personal information be deleted. The letters also include a QR code and Bitcoin address. Jenkins said the letters request varying amounts of money, but the average is more than $1,500.

The emails include photos of the recipient’s home, however Jenkins said the Shelburne Police Department has confirmed through a reverse image search that these photos were taken from Google Maps’ street view option.

He added that the inclusion of a Bitcoin address clearly marks the emails as a scam, and that the sender does not in fact have any sensitive information. Jenkins said the recipient’s name, address and phone number that are included in the email is information that can often be obtained through a Google search.

“Everything that’s in these emails is information that is available through public records,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the emails have come from different addresses, but all have been Gmail addresses.

Jenkins said the department is working with Google and other local police departments to locate the sender. As of Thursday morning, Jenkins said he was unable to guess whether the sender is local or working from elsewhere, but he hopes to have more answers in the next week or so.

“This is an open case, and we hope to be able to educate our community to not fall for the tactic,” Jenkins said.

Police are still investigating the emails and urge any resident who receives one to contact Jenkins at tjenkins@townofshelburnema.gov.