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Ensnared in a video ambush in a Thunder Bay, Ont., park, the hoodied man in his 20s stared reluctantly into the camera after a bit of goading.

“I feel like an idiot,” he frowned.

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Standing off-camera, the man who had baited him online by posing as a 14-year-old girl wasn’t quite done with him. Maybe an apology is in order, he suggested.

“This isn’t me,” the man sputtered. “I’m sorry … lesson learned.”

The seven-minute YouTube video is one of dozens that have been posted online by members of Creep Catcher, a growing network of civilians across the country determined to expose suspected child predators — and shame them on social media.

Even though police have repeatedly denounced such acts of vigilantism, the number of Creep Catcher chapters has expanded in the last year to 15, stretching from British Columbia to New Brunswick.

“We want to scare them to keep them off the Internet,” said Jeff Belajac, 32, who recently started up the Thunder Bay chapter and has already posted seven videos.