A 29-year-old Australian man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for one of the worst sextortion cases in the country’s history. Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed blackmailed hundreds of girls online, many of whom were minors, into performing explicit acts, reported BBC.
Rasheed posed as a famous teenager on social media to lure his victims. He would build trust with them before blackmailing them with threats of exposing their private information. Despite his victims’ distress and pleas for help, Rasheed continued his harmful actions.
Rasheed manipulated over 250 victims around the globe into performing explicit acts on camera.
The Australian Federal Police and the Western Australia Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team conducted a joint investigation that led to Rasheed’s arrest.
“The callous disregard this man had for his victims around the world and their distress, humiliation and fear make it one of the most horrific sextortion cases prosecuted in Australia,” said Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean.
When announcing the sentence on Tuesday, Judge Amanda Burrows said Rasheed’s offence was of such magnitude there was “no comparable case” in the country, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Rasheed pretended to be a 15-year-old American internet star. He would start the conversation with his targets, and later involve them in discussions about sexual fantasies.
Rasheed threatened the victims to send their responses to friends and family unless they performed a series of escalating “degrading” sex acts- which at times included family pets and other children in their home, the BBC reported.
The Western Australia Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET) first launched an investigation into Rasheed’s activities in September 2019.
Several children told him they were suicidal- one event sent images of self-harm. But he continued to blackmail them despite their “obvious distress” and “extreme fear”, the judge said.
He has been convicted of multiple charges, including sexual assault. He will be eligible to petition for parole in August 2033.
