![]() ![]() This case is disturbing not only because it involves child pornography, but also because a popular online game was used to communicate with the victim," said Ashley Moody. ![]() These charges stem from Thomas allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a minor and soliciting pornographic photos and video of the victim by using the battle royale title of Fortnite in order to make contact with the victim.Īuthorities believe that there could be as many as 20 additional victims, according to the official statement provided by Moody. However, a recent situation has seen Fortnite allegedly be used to help facilitate a truly horrific crime.Īccording to an official news release from Florida Attorney Ashley Moody made on Thursday, January 17th, Anthony Gene Thomas, a 41-year-old Florida Man, had been arrested and accused of "offenses related to unlawful sex with a minor including 22 counts of child pornography". The Saint-Jerome police department also have advice for parents on how to help teens.Throughout 2018 and the beginning of 2019, Fortnite Battle Royale has been a video game titles that has helped to connect players from across the world with its massive community and cross platform capabilities that allow players to play with anyone else on Fortnite no matter what platform they are playing on.Quebec's Public Security Ministry has an information campaign for parents and teens.“Nobody knows who's behind the keyboard at the other end of a conversation online, that's the exact point.”Īnyone with information can reach out to Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police at 1-88. “The technique is called social engineering, so if they're hacking their way in, making the other person believe whatever they want them to believe and extrapolate what the person is really wanting out of that conversation,” he said. Online security expert Steve Waterhouse warns that these types of perpetrators are usually skilled at building trust with their victims. ![]() But all our efforts are underway, all the necessary resources will be used in the investigation," said Tremblay. "These are technological crimes, so sometimes it can be complicated before we are able to put our hands on someone. So far police have not located the suspect. The Commission scolaire des Patriotes and private schools on the South Shore have sent letters to the parents of students advising them about what has happened. "We are working swiftly to warn other potential victims, and if there are any victims that wish to reach out, we hope to hear from them," said Tremblay.Įach victim that Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police is aware of is a young male in high school, but the four boys have no connection with each other and don’t attend the same school. Tremblay said police suspect more victims have yet to come forward. Police are warning teens that giving in to this type of blackmail never ends, and will not protect the victims from their photos being shared online anyway. That turned out to be a tactic to have the teen open up a private chat discussion online, and step by step the predator convinced the teens to send him nude photographs, each time pressuring them to send more by threatening to expose what they had already done. Once he made contact, he offered them codes to get access to higher levels of the video game Fortnite. The first step was creating a fake profile on Instagram and convincing teenagers to be admitted to their group of friends. Jean-Luc Tremblay of the Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police department said in each case, the predator used the same tactics. The Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police force said it is investigating at least four cases where teenaged boys were conned into sending people sexually explicit or naked photographs while playing the video game Fortnite. A police force on the South Shore is warning teenagers and parents about an online scam involving a popular video game and sexual predators. ![]()
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