Dutch police launch campaign to find and offer help to victims of sextortion

DORDRECHT, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police have launched a social media campaign to track down and offer help to girls and young women, some of them in the United States, who were duped into sharing explicit pictures of themselves and then abused and blackmailed online in a wide-ranging “ sextortion ” case.

An investigation started by a tip from the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations has already established that more than 50 girls and women, aged between 13 and 20 years, were abused in at least six countries — the United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Montenegro and Canada.

The suspect is a 22-year-old Dutch man identified only as Damian A. in line with Dutch privacy rules, who was arrested early last year and went on trial Wednesday in the city of Dordrecht. A verdict is expected within weeks. Prosecutors and the man's lawyer say he has confessed.

“We are very worried because what these girls have had to endure is so extreme and so intense, and we know that there are more girls but we don’t know who they are,” Milou van der Kolk from Rotterdam Police Sexual Crimes Team told The Associated Press. She said material found on the suspect's computer and other devices led to fears there are more victims who have not yet been identified.

The man used the online moniker “Turpien” and sometimes ordered his victims to write “Owned by Turpien” on their bodies or signs as they performed increasingly degrading acts. He allegedly also sold images of his victims to others.

The Dutch campaign also aims at letting victims know that the man who allegedly committed the sextortion is now jailed and can no longer harm them, Van der Kolk said.

The case also “highlights the importance of strong international cooperation, such as between U.S. and Dutch authorities, which is essential for protecting children online and effectively investigating and prosecuting offenders across borders,” the Homeland Security Investigations agency’s attache in The Hague, Eben Roberts, said in an email to AP.

“HSI is committed to solidify these partnerships to bring these child predators to face justice,” he added.

Roberts said the Dutch campaign, that includes links and phone numbers where victims can seek help, is aligned with a U.S. campaign called Know2Protect that tackles online child exploitation.

Prosecutors said in a statement that a psychiatric assessment of the suspect found that he has “an autism spectrum disorder and a sexual sadism disorder.” They asked judges to sentence the suspect to nine years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment. He is charged with online assault and online rape, extortion, and producing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

Police and prosecutors allege that the abuse started after the suspect tricked his victims into sharing explicit images by pretending to be a woman of their age. He then threatened to share the images if they did not send more.

The case underscores a growing online threat to youngsters.

“Sextortion is an increasingly significant societal problem," prosecutors said in a statement, noting that 2025 saw an increase of 46% compared to the previous year in online sex crimes, amounting to more than 3,000 cases in the Netherlands.