Dutch man on trial for cyber ‘sextortion’
A MAN accused of a worldwide cyberbullying racket that got young girls to pose naked before blackmailing them went on trial yesterday in Amsterdam, saying he was innocent of the charges.
The defendant, Aydin C, 38, is suspected of forcing dozens of young women from as far as Britain, Canada, Norway and the United States into performing sex acts in front of their webcams.
“I deny all charges,” Aydin C – identified only by his first name because of Dutch privacy rules – told judges at a high-security courtroom.
He faces 72 charges, including sex crimes such as making and storing of child pornography, blackmail, fraud and hard drug possession, prosecutors said.
“He posed online as a young woman and established trust relationships with 34 young girls, eventually getting them to pose naked in front of a webcam,” Dutch public prosecution service spokesman Lars Stempher said.
Once Aydin C obtained the images, his tone changed and he would start to threaten the girls, telling them he would show the images to parents, relatives and school friends if they did not do as told.
“This included performing sexual acts and in the end the girls became trapped.”
Five gay men – most in Australia – were also lured in when Aydin C posed as a young boy and “eventually he threatened that he would expose their sexuality, leading to blackmail”.
He was arrested after Facebook rang alarm bells in 2013, telling Dutch police a “sextortionist” was at work in The Netherlands. Aydin C is also linked to the case of Canadian Amanda Todd, 15, who committed suicide in 2012 after being tormented by an anonymous cyberbully.
“The notorious case, that of Amanda Todd, regularly pops up in this case docket,” Judge Karel Brunner said. “It is however a separate issue.”
A Dutch court ruled in June in favour of Aydin C’s extradition to Canada to stand trial in connection with her death.
Todd’s suicide sparked a worldwide debate about appropriate online behaviour, and prompted calls for cyberbullying to be criminalised. Aydin C, however, will be sent to Canada only after the end of his trial in the Netherlands.