A 12-year-old boy who escaped the vehicle of an alleged abductor in Alberta after he and a group of friends employed a “catch a predator” scheme was incredibly lucky, says a police child exploitation expert.

This appears to be the “very first” time minors have employed the scheme, popularized by NBC’s To Catch a Predator reality television series, said Staff Sgt. Mark Auger from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s internet child exploitation unit.

“This could have been a horrible outcome,” Auger said Thursday.

“Any time you reach out to a random person, there’s risk of compromise just in a conversation. Then you elevate that to meeting them somewhere in public…. I think it’s a million to one that that child wasn’t hurt.”

The “risk (of losing control) was off the charts” for the

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