A man who invented an online game to groom teenage girls has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing 150 minors in the Netherlands and other countries.
The 40-year-old man, Bas P., from Herten, Limburg, was arrested last October, but details only came to light at a preliminary court hearing in Rotterdam on Tuesday.
In the game, known as “Highscoregame”, players were rewarded with points for completing tasks on camera, starting with innocent actions such as waving before progressing to more explicit challenges.
P. recorded his victims and used the footage to blackmail them, threatening to show the images to their parents or put them online unless they co-operated with him. Prosecutors said some of the videos showed the victims crying.
His activities went undetected for seven years until he law enforcement officials in the United States found videos that he shared in a forum on the dark web.
Police found more than 300 sexually explicit videos of girls aged between nine and 17, some of which P. had obtained from other men who used similar games to entice their victims to expose themselves.
The trial is due to take place in June.
Victims can contact the inquiry team in Limburg via a dedicated e-mail address: melding-highscore-game.lb@politie.nl.
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