Nineteen girls and women have so far filed a report against Gianni de W. from Etten-Leur. He is the suspect in the largest investigation into online abuse of minors in the Netherlands ever. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), De W. extorted more than a hundred underage girls with their nude photos.
The police have traced the identities of 37 adult and 93 minor victims. Some victims will be present at a substantive hearing of the lawsuit on Tuesday. The W. is not present.
Officers think they need another three to six months for the investigation. They are still seeking contact with 35 underage girls. It is not clear in what period they were extorted.
The police found 150 folders with different girls’ names on De W.’s computer. Some subfolders contained thousands of images of a victim, says the public prosecutor. In recent months, the focus has been on investigating the identity of the girls. “He has made the lives of his victims hell,” the officer said.
Wat is sextortion?
- Bij sextortion wordt een slachtoffer verleid om seksueel getinte foto’s of video’s te sturen.
- Als de dader die eenmaal in het bezit heeft, wordt het slachtoffer afgeperst. Vaak dreigt een dader om de foto’s naar bekenden op te sturen, of online te plaatsen.
Victims were sometimes forced to record sexual videos
Until the first session on January 19, eight girls had filed a report against the man from Etten-Leur, who operated under fake names such as Bryan.snapx, Bryansnelgeld and other aliases with the name Bryan.
He came into contact with his victims through social media. He offered the girls money for sending a nude photo. Then he threatened to put it online if they didn’t send even more images. One of his victims had to have sex with her boyfriend and film it for him.
The sextortion had a lot of impact on the victims, says the prosecutor. One of the victims was only thirteen years old. “She reacted in panic, was anxious and emotional. This worsened the relationship with her mother, who has since passed away.”