Front Burner - The ‘sextortion’ of Amanda Todd

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

After her death by suicide in 2012, Amanda Todd’s name became closely linked with cyberbullying in Canada. From the ages of 12 to 15, the teen was relentlessly harassed and exploited online by more ...than 20 social media accounts that extorted her for sexual images. On Saturday, nearly 10 years after her death, a 44-year-old Dutch national, Aydin Coban, was convicted of extortion, possession of child pornography, child luring and criminal harassment against Todd. Today, Eva Uguen-Csenge — who helped cover the trial for CBC Vancouver — explains Amanda Todd’s story, and the significance of this guilty verdict now. A warning that this episode contains descriptions of child sexual exploitation.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jason D'Souza in for Jamie Poisson. A note before we begin that this episode contains descriptions of child sexual exploitation. Shortly before she died by suicide in 2012, Amanda Todd posted a video on YouTube. In it, the 15-year-old is silent, sad music plays as she holds up flashcards
Starting point is 00:00:40 telling the story of how she was sexually exploited online, starting when she was just exploited online, starting when she was just in 7th grade. After her death, Amanda Todd's name became closely linked with cyber bullying in Canada, but her online tormentors remained anonymous. Now, nearly 10 years after her death, a Dutch man has been convicted in British Columbia, found guilty on five counts, including possession of child pornography, child luring, and extortion, all related to Amanda's harassment. The man, 44-year-old Aidan Coban, was not charged with her death. Eva Yugo-Ensenge helped cover the trial for CBC Vancouver, and we're talking to her today about Amanda Todd's story and the significance of this guilty verdict now.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Hi, Eva. Hi. So this trial went on for two months. There was so much disturbing testimony throughout. Can you take us through what the reaction in the courtroom was like as the verdicts were finally read out? Yeah, so it's hard to describe just how much anticipation had been building up in that courtroom over the nine-week trial. You know, there had been dozens of witness testimonies and evidence exhibits. Carol Todd, Amanda's mom, was in court every day. And as each guilty verdict was read out, there was just audible relief. Carol Todd was there with two friends of hers to support her, and there were whispers of yes as each verdict was read out. Hearing the guilty, count one, guilty, count two, count two, guilty count three and four and five. I, there are no words that can explain how my heart feels. It's, it's just a culmination of,
Starting point is 00:02:41 of what Amanda endured and the truths of it all. And afterwards, there was also just amazement at how quickly the verdicts came about. The judge even commented Saturday that the jury was eager to come to a verdict, that they didn't have much patience left after sitting through so many days of hearings. And eventually they arrived at a unanimous decision in less than 24 hours. arrived at a unanimous decision in less than 24 hours. I think a lot of listeners will be familiar with the name Amanda Todd, and they'll remember what a big impact her death had on the conversation around online safety in Canada, but also internationally as well. This trial gave us a closer look at the extortion and harassment that she went through. So let's back up. Where did this whole ordeal start for her? We know from Amanda's own account in that viral video she made that she says that in grade seven,
Starting point is 00:03:39 she had her own YouTube channel. She started meeting people online using a webcam. She says people told her she was beautiful, perfect, and they asked her to flash the camera, which she did. was beautiful, perfect, and they asked her to flash the camera, which she did. And the Crown alleges that these images somehow came into Aidan Coban's possession. He messages her on Facebook under a pseudonym. So we really got a lot more detail about exactly what kind of harassment and extortion and the exact nature of the messages that Amanda had been receiving for three years. And the exact nature of the messages that Amanda had been receiving for three years, he says, there's video of you flashing your tits. He says, once a week, we just do fun stuff on cam is all. He says, last chance or I start sending the video to everyone in your Facebook, school and newspapers in your city.
Starting point is 00:04:19 And it was really quite disturbing to hear. And it really gave you a sense of what this teenager really went through in her daily life as this harassment was ongoing, just relentless, and just the tone and the content of these messages. And to be clear, the Crown presented the case that the harassment, the extortion, what they called sextortion, it went on for several years. Yeah, it went on for three years from 2009 to 2012. It began when Amanda was 12 until she was 15 years old. Amanda even had to change schools to try to escape the harassment. And because peers at her old school had become aware of the photos online and were messaging her about it or talking about it. She got, I guess the name is slut shamed. So, you know, nicknames like cam whore and then questions about, so are you doing this on a regular basis and porn star and,
Starting point is 00:05:19 and it just, you know, for a child that's in grade seven it was very um it killed her um one one example her mom shared she testified that in in november 2011 she heard a shriek from amanda's bedroom as she discovered that a facebook account had been using a topless image of her as its profile picture and was even friending some of her real-life friends and acquaintances at her school. On top of that example, there were some messages that were read into the record at the trial that were just so incredibly awful. I wonder if you can give us a sense of that. Yeah, they were really disturbing to hear. One message to Amanda Todd came through YouTube in April 2011. The name of the sender was new, so one of those new accounts, the sender said, I am back. Miss me. How is your new school? I have a new flash video of you. The message said, pick door one, you do five shows for me, 30 minutes each, and then I disappear forever.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And then the message offered her a second option. They said, door two, I fuck up your life at this new school, just like last time, one week to decide. So really putting Amanda in this impossible position of having to decide between exposing herself even further to strangers online or having her entire family and friend network discover the images that were already out there. So the Crown argued, and now a jury of course has agreed, that Aidan Coban was behind this and that he was actually operating multiple online accounts in order to harass her. Can you tell us more about what the jury heard about these multiple accounts? Yes, so the Crown alleged that Coban used at least 22 different social media accounts on various platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Skype to contact Amanda Todd. They all
Starting point is 00:07:31 had different names, a lot of them used different kind of language, but similar kind of content. And he allegedly also used other accounts to pose as teenage boys and would-be friends so he could elicit more material that he could use to extort Amanda. So, for example, the Facebook profile that I mentioned before that she found, which was using a profile image of a topless photo of her, that was an account that was created to further the harassment. One account even pretended to belong to an employee of an independent online child protection agency. So, you know, so many different methods and avenues
Starting point is 00:08:13 that Kaban was using to really surround her with a network of harassment and extortion so that it was impossible to escape. The Crown also showed the jury some messages that the harasser had exchanged on Facebook, not only with Amanda, but with people that she was connected with on Facebook, some of her Facebook friends, including one male friend who told the harasser that he was interested in seeing sexualized images of Amanda. And the harasser then shared a link to a porn site. And Amanda's Facebook friend replied, sick, thanks, bro. So it wasn't just the messages from Coban, from the harasser that were threatening and causing her such torment. It was also the response from the real people in her life and in her social network.
Starting point is 00:09:06 And you mentioned a moment ago that some of these accounts were from would-be friends feigning concern for Amanda all the while, while they were just distributing these images to people in her life. Yeah. So they sent an email to the administration of her new school saying that guys were recording her and posting her on x-rated sites saying please inform her parents and the authorities that she's doing this so they can make her stop and then the email also included a link to a video of Amanda on a porn site and this was sent to administrators at her school who then shared it with her parents and with RCMP and that was a big part of the investigation that took place here in British Columbia.
Starting point is 00:10:11 Both of Amanda's parents took the stand, as did RCMP officers who were in contact with the family, with former classmates. What did they tell the jury about the toll that this other than the video that she posted before she died. But in that video, there is a card that reads, I can never get that photo back. It's out there forever. So she was very aware of the impact of this on her life. It was something that she thought about and lived with every day. She describes crying every night, living with extreme anxiety, feeling depressed, losing all of her friends. Her mom, Carol Todd, recalled some of the stuff that Amanda told her in November 2011. She said, Mom, what are we going to do? She asked her why this was happening. She was afraid of what it would be like going back to school. Carol Todd
Starting point is 00:11:13 says her daughter was extremely distressed and that was in turn causing her mom distress. Carol Todd also talked about how difficult it was trying to deal with Amanda's access to the internet and social media when she was living in two homes because her parents were divorced. And her mom would see troubling images and chat messages appear, would try to have a conversation with Amanda. And then she would find herself blocked from Amanda's feed. You know, she was a teenager. She wanted her privacy. She didn't necessarily want her mom intruding on her social media life. And I understand to that point that the RCMP told Amanda to delete her account or at least
Starting point is 00:11:54 limit the number of Facebook friends. But as you say, this is 2011, 2012, when Facebook was very much at the center of so many young people's social lives. when Facebook was very much at the center of so many young people's social lives. Absolutely. A number of BC RCMP officers testified who had talked directly to Amanda, who had tried to convey to her how important it was to try to take steps to protect herself online. And so the number one thing that they wanted to convince her to do was to delete all of her social media accounts. But Amanda, of course, refused. Like you said, that Facebook was hugely important to teenagers 10 years ago. I'm going to go. Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some
Starting point is 00:13:14 startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. What do we know about how Aiden Coban came to be arrested in connection with this case? And what kind of evidence was presented to suggest that he was the person behind all these different accounts? So the police in the Netherlands were actually instrumental in bringing Aiden Coban to justice. They mounted a complex covert operation to install microphones and video cameras in the bungalow that he lived in a month before he was arrested. They made copies of the contents of his computers and hard drives, all while a judge
Starting point is 00:14:14 supervised the collection of this evidence by a remote video link. They also kept tabs on Caban from a nearby location over the next month until he was arrested. A Dutch investigator testified that he found unique identifiers linking Coban's digital devices to the use of a specific wireless internet router that was connected to some of the online activity that was sending these messages to Amanda. So we heard a lot of testimony and parts of the trial that was very detailed, very specific, going into digital forensic evidence, talking about IP addresses, routers, internet service providers, and how all that information was used to trace back the accounts and the messages to Aiden Coban. Eventually, Dutch investigators also found a file name with Amanda Todd's name on it on one of his devices. Of course that led to as we know Coban being extradited to Canada
Starting point is 00:15:15 from the Netherlands. The Crown said in its closing arguments that there was just a treasure trove of information linking him to the harassment and extortion. A Skype account was discovered that was linked to an alias that was used to harass Amanda Todd, and it was active on a device in Coban's home just minutes before he was arrested. So investigators, police, digital forensics, they were really able to paint this picture of how this online activity and these various social media accounts were all linked to Cobain and his internet activity. And what was the thrust of the defense's argument in all of this? So defense really focused on the fact that there was no
Starting point is 00:15:58 solid evidence linking the various social media accounts back to Coban. So Coban's lawyer pointed, for example, to different writing styles between the accounts. He read out several of the messages, some of which I've explained previously. For example, one of them wrote in all capital letters, while another one made the same typo every time. But both messages were not in the same kind of language style or writing style. And Coban's lawyer said that was evidence that they were written by different people. He also argued that evidence from Facebook logs that investigators had used to determine that Coban's online activity could be linked to some of the harassment was inconclusive.
Starting point is 00:16:45 But it appears that eventually the jury was convinced that the messages were coming from Coban from the police testimony and from the digital forensic evidence. There was also some significant information that the jury was not allowed to hear and will have only learned after they delivered their verdict about Aidan Coban's criminal record in the Netherlands. Yeah, Coban had already been sentenced to 11 years for blackmailing dozens of young women around the world into performing sex acts in front of webcams. He was found guilty of Internet fraud and blackmail in Amsterdam. The court in the Netherlands found that he abused dozens of young girls by gaining their trust through speaking with them on the internet and then abusing that trust by forcing them to perform sexual acts in front of webcams and threatening to send their images to relatives or to publish them on porn sites if they refused to do that.
Starting point is 00:17:57 So you can see that it was a very similar playbook that he used with Amanda Todd. She was not his first or his only victim. And this was a textbook example of how he exploited victims around the world. Evan, you mentioned Amanda Todd's mother, Carol, in the beginning, who was at the trial every day. She's been speaking to media for years and years, asking for justice for her daughter. We got a sense of the reaction she had when the verdict was announced in the courtroom. And I know you had a chance to speak with her afterwards. What did she tell you? You could just sense the relief from Carol Todd as soon as the
Starting point is 00:18:35 verdicts were read out. She spoke to us outside the courthouse after. I knew in my heart of hearts that it was him, right? And justice has been served for Amanda. She's not here. Well, she might be somewhere watching us, but she's not here to see it. But this is her moment. And she said that the verdict was just another part of Amanda's story. She couldn't call it closure because she said there would never be closure for what happened to her daughter, but that she finally had justice and that Amanda finally had justice. I hate to use the word exciting right now. I don't want to use happy words, but it is exciting to hear. And it's something that Amanda would have wanted. She also had a message for Amanda. We always believed you. We wanted to help you and support you the best we can.
Starting point is 00:19:33 Unfortunately there were failures in the system and it was only after your death that we were able to resurrect what happened to you and have and move the circle of justice down the line. Carol Todd believes this is a step forward, not just for justice for Amanda, but also for any other victims of online sextortion. other victims of online sextortion. She thinks that now that this case has been decided, that there's a case to be made for including sextortion in the criminal code, which it's not in there right now. She thinks that there should be legislation specific to online extortion using sexual content. She thinks that we need to make it easier to report these kinds of instances and to catch and prosecute perpetrators she had a message for other victims too she said whether they were young old any age she said anyone can be a victim of this that if they are being extorted online
Starting point is 00:20:37 they need to report it to local police cyber tips.ca and that there were steps that could be done and that harming themselves was never the answer. So you could tell that she was very emotional about how this case ended for her daughter and that she doesn't want this to ever happen to any child or young person again. And to that point, she had a message for parents too. She said, learn about what sex extortion is, learn about exploitation. Get familiar with the technology and the social media that your kids are using. Have conversations with them because it's important to have that out in the open and for kids to know that this is a conversation that they can openly have with their parents
Starting point is 00:21:19 and share with them. Eva, thank you for this. Thank you. That's all for today. I'm Jason D'Souza and for Jamie Poisson, thanks for listening to FrontBurner. We'll talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.

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