WARNING: This story incorporates particulars that readers might discover distressing
A predator who posed as a teenage YouTuber and blackmailed a whole lot of women world wide into performing intercourse acts on digicam has been jailed for 17 years in Australia.
Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed admitted 119 expenses involving 286 folks from 20 international locations together with the UK, the US, Japan and France. Two-thirds of the victims are below 16 years previous.
A Perth courtroom heard the 29-year-old threatened to ship specific messages and images to family members, forcing them into an more and more excessive cycle of abuse.
Australian authorities known as this “some of the critical instances of intercourse blackmail in historical past.”
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean stated: “This man’s callous disregard for his victims world wide, and their ache, humiliation and worry, makes it essentially the most horrific case of sextortion ever prosecuted in Australia. one.
“Any such on-line exploitation and abuse is devastating and may trigger lifelong trauma.”
In line with the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), Decide Amanda Burrows stated when handing down the sentence on Tuesday that Rashid’s crimes had been so critical that there was “no related case” within the nation.
Rasheed pretended to be a 15-year-old American web star, initiated conversations together with his targets, after which engaged them in discussions about their sexual fantasies.
He threatened to ship their responses to family and friends until they engaged in an escalating sequence of “degrading” sexual acts – typically involving the household pet and different youngsters within the residence.
The courtroom heard that Rashid had been concerned within the misogynistic on-line group of “non-celibates” and had repeatedly invited others – together with 98 folks on one event – to observe reside broadcasts of the distressing behaviour.
Most of the blackmailed youngsters informed him they had been suicidal, and one even despatched images of self-mutilation. The choose stated Rashid continued the extortion regardless of their “apparent misery” and “excessive worry,” ABC reported.
He was captured after Interpol and US investigators contacted Australian authorities and charged following a police raid on his residence in 2020.
Rashid is serving a five-year sentence for twice sexually abusing a 14-year-old in a Perth park.
The courtroom heard he was attending a intercourse offender therapy program however Rashid remained at excessive danger of re-offending. He will probably be eligible for parole in August 2033.
