Skip to main content

Follow ISN on

The Best
Just Got Better.

New Name. Same Standards. Exceptional Results.
Learn more about how joining ISN has enhanced our services here.

Amanda Todd’s alleged tormentor may have had more Canadian victims: report

The Dutch man charged in connection with the online extortion that led to the suicide of B.C. teenager Amanda Todd is suspected of having 10 other victims in Canada, the CBC says. In a report aired on Thursday evening, the CBC says its investigative program the Fifth Estate obtained a Facebook security report that reveals that the 36-year-old Dutch suspect, Aydin Coban, used nearly 90 bogus online identities as he sexually extorted more than 75 victims.Canadian investigators were given information on 10 more potential victims in this country in addition to Ms. Todd, but the status of those files is not known, the CBC says. In addition, in a joint investigation with the Dutch current-affairs program Zembla, The Fifth Estate also reported that Dutch authorities received a tip about Mr. Coban's activities several months before Ms. Todd's 2012 suicide, but did not arrest him until earlier this year. The tip came from police in Norway, who were investigating someone calling himself Tyler Ceem who was blackmailing a girl via Skype. Norwegian investigators obtained the suspect's IP address and connected it to a location in the Netherlands town of Oisterwijk. They contacted their Dutch counterparts in May, 2012, then again in December, 2012. The Dutch officials decided they did not have enough evidence for a search. Around the same time, Ms. Todd was being blackmailed by someone calling himself Tyler Boo. She died in October, 2012. The security team at Facebook led Dutch investigators to Mr. Coban, an Oisterwijk resident. "The suspect is highly skilled in identity obfuscation and consistently uses proxy IP addresses, clean session cookies, and disposable email addresses and online handles to make contact with his victims and their friends," according to the report obtained by the CBC. The report says he obtained a topless photo of Ms. Todd and sent it to her friends, family and classmates.

Globe & Mail