Four teenagers have been accused of using the popular new Pokemon Go game to lure victims to certain locations before robbing them.

The alleged robberies confused some police officers in O'Fallon, Missouri, with Sergeant Phil Hardin saying that many had not heard of the new game.

"All of the elements of a robbery were all there, so that part was easy, but the more in-depth discussion that followed was like: 'What?'

"You really can't make this stuff up," he told the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

:: 10 Things You Need To Know About Pokemon GO


Image: Pokemon was a hit in the 1990s

Pokemon Go is a smartphone geo-caching game that sends players to different locations - Pokestops - to collect various creatures.

The creatures appear on the screen of the phone as if they were in the real world.

The game was released in the US last week, following its launch in Australia and New Zealand, and it has been so popular that it is struggling with demand.

Police in O'Fallon said the four teenagers - Shane Michael Baker, 18, Brett W Miller, 17, Jamine James D Warner, 18 and a youth too young to be named - may have been involved in nearly a dozen robberies in St Louis, St Louis County and St Charles County.

They allegedly used the game to draw victims to a place in O'Fallon, just outside St Louis, before robbing them.

The four were allegedly spotted in a black BMW near a petrol station at about 2am Sunday local time, when police were called to reports of a robbery.

The teens were arrested and police found a handgun.

Baker, Miller and Warner were charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action and have yet to appear in court. The fourth youngster, 16, is in juvenile custody.

Meanwhile, players of the game have been warned to keep their wits about them, after reports of injuries suffered by people too busy gazing at their screens.

People have tripped over, fallen in holes and walked into trees while concentrating on the game and police in the Australian city of Darwin have even had to ask players not to enter the station, which has been made a pokestop in the game.