Pokemon Go Used to Lure Fugitives for Arrests

Fugitives have been recently targeted by New Hampshire’s police force using Pokemon Go in a deceptive manner.

Apparently, they created a list of around 500 known fugitives on the department’s wanted list in Manchester — New Hampshire’s largest city — and pretended they had a Charizard in the booking area. They then posted this on Facebook, luring fugitives in.

(The Facebook post — click to enlarge)

Stories like this have been popping up all over the world, with Pokemon Go being utilised opportunistically by criminals to lure victims in for robberies. It’s also apparently resulted in bodies being discovered on two separate occasions. (Here is the first one; and here is the second.) Finally, privacy concerns are also something which have been an issue, resulting in similar controversy.

It is obvious that – while some of these scenarios could be fake or sensationalised – Pokemon Go has made an impressive impact in more ways than conventional gameplay.

While the app has not led to an arrest, it has been extremely popular with Facebook users, with the post attaining more than 18,000 likes, 3,000 comments and 13,000 shares since Saturday night.