Police in Alberta are urging parents to check the location settings on their children’s social media and communication apps after two youth allegedly being sexually exploited in Edmonton were followed to their homes.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT)’s internet child exploitation unit issued the warning Friday, after making an arrest in an investigation in which an offender allegedly tracked the location of two youths police said he had been victimizing online.
The suspect had been speaking with the victims online and ALERT said he allegedly threatened them into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves.
“The victims reported that they complied out of extreme fear for their safety and the safety of their family,” ALERT said.
The suspect allegedly tracked the victim’s location via Snapchat and travelled to their family home. ALERT said they allegedly knew both the victims’ home address and what school they attended.
Snapchat allows users to share their location with friends on a “Snap Map,” which can be set to either update each time the user opens the app or keep running in the background, updating as the user’s phone moves. It all depends on the phone’s location permissions. Users can also share their location with friends in direct chats.
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The internet child exploitation (ICE) unit suggests parents and users review their location sharing settings in social media apps.
“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,” said ICE Staff Sgt. Alison Church.
“We want to prevent this from happening and are asking parents to please speak with their children about safe social media usage and, at the very least, turn off location tracking.”
ALERT began investigating after a victim’s family member contacted police in August.
Arshdeep Singh, 18, who police said goes by the username “max_bxyz” on Snapchat, was arrested on Sept. 10 and charged with:
- Child luring
- Extortion
- Criminal harassment
- Making sexually explicit materials available to a child
- Making child sexual abuse and exploitation materials
- Possessing child sexual abuse and exploitation materials
- Accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation materials
ALERT said the Zebra Child Protection Centre and the Edmonton Police Service are providing help with the investigation.
ALERT said its ICE investigators are looking into the possibility of further victims and is asking anyone with information to contact police or Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-TIPS).
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