Content Warning: This article contains descriptive language of sexual exploitation, self harm, and suicide.

One of the earliest examples of a life taken too soon from internet exploitation and cyber bullying was the story of Amanda Todd. On October 10th, 2012 Amanda took her own life at 15 years old. About one month earlier, Amanda posted an 8 minute video explaining her story. The video went viral shortly after her death.

Amanda's mother, Carol Todd, describes her as a self-starter and someone who wanted the best for other people. She was passionate about singing, art, and animals. Her mom would call her by a nickname, "Princess Snowflake".

"She had all the spirit in the world. She was caring, she was empathetic, and she always wanted to help others" (GermMagazine)

Amanda's Story

In the video, Amanda tells her story by using pieces of paper, one page at a time along with some of her favorite music. It began with her activity on a webcam site in 7th grade. She would go on there to meet new people and receive compliments. She met someone who was far older than what they said they were. One year later, she was convinced to flash the camera (showing her breasts). What she didn't know, is that a screenshot was taken on the other end. Months later, she started to get blackmailed from an anonymous Facebook account. The blackmailer threatened to release the screenshot to her friends and family, but would refrain on the condition she would send more sexual content.

Amanda refused to do this and the blackmailer did what they said they would do and posted the photo on an adult site. This shattered Amanda's world and she went into a depression. The photo quickly got around her social circle. Her peers made fun of her, especially online. Her family moved and got her into a new school district. However, this followed her. A new Facebook account reached out a year later and did the exact same thing. She lost all of her friends once again and fell back into depression. It was a cycle she didn't break out of. She began to cut herself, as many victims of online extortion do as a coping mechanism.

Finally, she moved schools again. She had a different dispute this time, involving a sexual encouter with a boy she liked who already had a girlfriend. She was beat up by some of her peers. This was the straw that broke the camels back. It lead to her attempting suicide by drinking bleach. This did not kill her and the hospital was able to treat her. Her peers would post pictures of bottles of bleach to taunt her, even after she moved schools again. Her family got her on anti-depressants and counseling. She had another suicide attempt by overdose. She posted her video as a cry for help, but passed away from suicide one month later. Only after her death did the video go viral.

The Evolution

What many people may not know about this story, is that it actually involved a community of "cappers" who would operate on platforms like Chatroulette or Omegle. It wasn't simply a lone predator engaging in this behavior. This draws parallels with recent patterns in groups like 764, CVLT, or just generally the Com.

For example, a very disturbing channel, The Daily Capper, released a video about Amanda Todd on December 18th, 2010, during the first blackmail attempt. Fundamentally, it's evidence that the capper community was aware of Amanda while it was happening. After Amanda's death, The Daily Capper revealed more in another video.

"Welcome to another edition of The Daily Capper. We just wanted to help provide a few more details to the recent Amanda Todd tragedy. The majority of people seem misinformed. The media tends to miss out on a lot of key information. Others have no idea what they're talking about and police investigators have no understanding of the internet at all. While people have made Amanda Todd's case into an example of bullying, what they tend to overlook is the capping and blackmail aspect of the story. Contrary to what the media believes, this wasn't just a petty case of cyber bullying." (The Daily Capper)

So where were the police during Amanda's tribulations? Even back in 2014, Carol Todd spoke on a CBC segment about her disappointment in the Police response to her daughter's case.

"'You've got pictures, email addresses, you know, you've got a campaign here, a blackmail campaign. What did you do with this?' - Mark Kelley (CBC)
'I saved it, sent it to the R.C.M.P.' - Carol Todd" (Video D: 19:55)

Carol adamantly wanted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P) to attempt to trap the stalker online, but all the police would do is tell her to keep Amanda off the internet. What is really disturbing about the police response, is that they never reached out to Facebook for assistance.

"We now know, that despite all the threats, the R.C.M.P, had not at this point formally requested help from Facebook to try to uncover the identity of Tyler Boo." (Video D, 21:27)

That information could have saved Amanda's life. In 2014, Amanda Todd's predator, Aydin Coban, was finally arrested. How? Norwegian police were investigating a similar case from a user, "Tyler Cee", and they reached out to Skype to get his IP address. He was convicted in 2017 after facing 72 charges of sexual assault and extortion involving 39 alleged victims. He was sentenced to 11 years. In 2020, he was extradited to Canada mid-sentence. In 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years for his case with Amanda Todd.

However, an unfortunate aspect of the Norwegian case is that they actually had actionable intelligence against Aydin Coban while Amanda was still alive in May 2012.

I believe that many police departments globally were ill-equipped during the early 2010s to deal with cases like these. In the 2020s, they have grown in proficiency when dealing with cyber crime. On the other hand, malicious threat actors have gotten better at operational security. Frankly, I am astonished by how low the sentences were for Aydin Coban. I think one lesson parents can learn from Amanda's story is that law enforcement is not infallible.

I encourage readers to watch Carol's presentation on TedX, her interview with Stenberg College, and read through the information on Amanda Todd Legacy to learn more about Amanda's story and Carol's message on the mental health crisis.