An 18-year-old Edmonton man has been charged after allegedly using Snapchat’s location-sharing feature to find the family home of two minors he had contacted online, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) said Friday. Its Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit is asking parents to check their children’s social media accounts and location-sharing settings.

Police announced the charges at a news conference Friday at ALERT’s Strathcona County headquarters in Sherwood Park. Arshdeep Singh, who also used the Snapchat username “max_bxyz,” faces charges of child luring, extortion, criminal harassment, making sexually explicit materials available to a child, and making, possessing and accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation materials.

Investigators allege Singh tracked the locations of two youths he had been communicating with online and threatened them to obtain sexually explicit videos. Police further allege he travelled to the family home and approached one of the minors. The children told investigators they believed he knew their home address and school.

“In these Snapchat communications, the children faced significant threats of violence where they believed that they and their family members would be murdered if they did not comply with the requirements for pictures and videos,” said Staff Sgt. Alison Church of ICE.

A family member of one of the victims contacted police in August 2026. ICE took over the investigation on Sept. 10 and arrested Singh later that day. Church said Singh was not previously known to police.

Singh was scheduled to appear in court Friday, Sept. 25. No update on the court appearance was available at the time of publication.

Church described the potential danger of the alleged conduct at a press briefing on Friday, Sept. 25. “Historically, we have had instances where children have been taken and they have been taken from their family locations. We know that. The outcome could have been very different,” she said.

ALERT urged parents to check their children’s Snapchat accounts for the username “max_bxyz” and talk with them about online safety. To change location-sharing settings, users can select the gear-shaped settings icon on their profile page, then open Privacy Controls. Location settings can be turned off or limited to selected friends. The Find Friends function, which suggests users who may have mutual connections, can also be disabled in Privacy Controls.

The Zebra Child Protection Centre and Edmonton Police Service are assisting with the investigation. ICE said it is investigating whether there may be additional victims. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

The case highlights the role of location-sharing settings in the alleged targeting. Police have not provided an update on Singh’s scheduled court appearance, and the investigation into possible additional victims is continuing.

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.