A 12-year-old boy escaped from the car of an alleged abductor that he and a group of other children arranged to meet as part of a "catch a predator scheme" they had devised on the Snapchat app, according to Alberta RCMP, who are strongly discouraging this type of vigilante activity.

The boy was allegedly abducted on Monday evening after getting into the suspect's vehicle in the Coopers Crossing neighbourhood of Airdrie, just north of Calgary.

Police said he and a group of at least six other children in the same age range, possibly as many as 10 in total, started a conversation with the suspect and arranged to meet him via Snapchat, without the knowledge of any parents, in an attempt to expose the man as a child predator.

"Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned," said RCMP Cpl. Gina Slan

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