Police near Montreal are warning teens and their parents about the danger of sharing explicit images online as they probe an online sexual extortion case related to the popular game Fortnite.

The Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police force reports four recent cases with the same characteristics: young males were targeted through Instagram with the perpetrator offering codes to access a higher level in Fortnite.

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Police say the suspects used fake avatars to successfully infiltrate groups of friends, where they made an offer through the chat feature to provide a code in exchange for images.

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They then threatened to share the images unless the victim sent more explicit material. The exchanges were in French, and no money was requested.

Police suspect there could be other victims, and their investigation is ongoing.

Sgt. Jean-Luc Tremblay said there is always a risk in sharing any personal information or sexually explicit images over the Internet and the blackmail can quickly escalate.

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