An Edmonton man was arrested earlier this month for online child sexual exploitation, after using Snapchat to track two youths and threatening them into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves, according to the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).
Police arrested Arshdeep Singh, 18, who used the username “max_bxyz,” on Sept. 10. He was charged with child luring, extortion, criminal harassment and several offences related to child sexual abuse materials, police said in a news release Friday morning.
“A case like this is manifestation of every parent’s worst fears and you can appreciate how scary this situation would have been for the victims,” Staff Sgt. Alison Church, of the ALERT Internet Child Exploitation unit (ICE), said in the release.
ALERT has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. MT Friday to talk about the case.
The investigation into Singh started after one the victims’ family members contacted police in August, the release said.
Online child sexual exploitation is now at epidemic levels and that has police concerned
ALERT said Singh spoke with the victims online and threatened them into sharing pornographic videos of themselves, adding that the youths complied out of fear for their safety and that of their family.
Snapchat has a function called Snap Map, which allows users to see where their friends are anywhere in the world. The function is deactivated by default when a profile is created, but users can opt to share their location with any number of friends on the app.
Singh allegedly used the app to track the victim’s location, travelling to their home, police said. They added that he also allegedly knew the school they attend.
The ICE unit is investigating whether there are more victims, the release said, and ALERT is urging anyone with knowledge about the case to contact police or send information anonymously to Crime Stoppers.
Alberta agencies work to educate public amid rise of online child sexual exploitation
The Edmonton Police Service and Zebra Child Protection Centre, an Edmonton organization that helps youth who have experienced abuse, are helping with the investigation, the release said.
In the meantime, however, police are encouraging parents to speak with their kids about safe social media use, and for people to review their location-sharing settings on social media apps.
