Man sentenced to jail for blackmailing underage girls with fake nude photos

A 26-year-old man from Piershil, Zuid-Holland was sentenced by a Rotterdam court to four years in prison, with one year suspended, for online abuse. He posed as a teenager on the messaging app Snapchat and contacted girls between the ages of 12 and 16, whom he then forced to send nude photos and pornographic videos of themselves. The court called it "brutal and ruthless."

According to the court, Jacobus van der V. made many more victims than the charges brought against him by the Public Prosecution Service indicate. The defendant himself acknowledged this. In total, 21 girls came forward to file charges. The prosecution demanded a four-year prison term, with eight months suspended.

During his trial, Van der V. stated that for four years until 2022, he pressured adolescent girls by taking their photos from Instagram and editing them so that they looked like nude photos. He then threatened to post those fake photos online unless they sent him real nude photos. One 15-year-old victim sent him 30 nude photos and videos of her performing sexual acts in a period of three months. "I did it to satisfy my lust," Van der V. told the court. "It turned me on."

He operated under the pseudonym Lars van Dijk. If girls did not cooperate, took too long to respond, or blocked him, he would pressure or intimidate them. He confronted them with personal details, like their surnames and schools, and on occasions even reached out to friends, girlfriends, or family members.

The court emphasized that "photos published on the Internet are not only a huge invasion of the privacy of those involved, but are also visible there for years and can circulate indefinitely." The defendant, solely to satisfy his own desires, "has seriously affected the joy of life for these young people and their loved ones, at least temporarily, and in some cases possibly for life.”

Investigations indicate that Van der V. suffers from a disorder, leading to diminished responsibility. The court decided that during his three-year probation, he will be subject to unannounced checks. He is also required to undergo therapy and is forbidden from reaching out to his victims.