Warning after British women are duped into sharing specific pics then blackmailed into finishing up ‘excessive’ degrading abuse on digital camera by ‘sexual sadist’
Young women, including Brits, were duped into sharing explicit images before being blackmailed into carrying out ‘extreme’ degrading acts on camera in a wide-ranging ‘sextortion’ case.
Dutch police have launched a social media appeal to trace potential victims, warning that many may still be unidentified after being targeted by an alleged ‘sexual sadist’.
Investigators say more than 50 girls and young women aged between 13 and 20 were abused across at least six countries, including the UK, United States, Netherlands, Germany, Montenegro and Canada.
The suspect, a 22-year-old Dutch man identified only as Damian A under local privacy laws, was arrested early last year and went on trial on Wednesday in Dordrecht. A verdict is expected within weeks.
Prosecutors and the man’s lawyer say he has confessed.
Police fear there could be further victims after material recovered from his devices suggested the abuse was more widespread.
‘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 reporters.
The suspect 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.
Young women, including Brits, were duped into sharing explicit images before being blackmailed into carrying out ‘extreme’ degrading acts on camera in a wide-ranging ‘sextortion’ case (stock image)
The Dutch campaign is also aimed at letting victims know that the man who allegedly committed the sextortion is now jailed and can no longer harm them, Ms Van der Kolk said.
The case also ‘highlights the importance of strong international co-operation, such as between US 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.
‘HSI is committed to solidify these partnerships to bring these child predators to face justice,’ he added.
Mr Roberts said the Dutch campaign, which includes links and phone numbers where victims can seek help, is aligned with a US 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 with the previous year in online sex crimes, amounting to more than 3,000 cases in the Netherlands.
