Australia convicts 29-year-old in worst case of sexual blackmail in history

Australian Deputy Police Commissioner David McLean described the incident in a press release on Tuesday as one of the worst cases of sexual blackmail in history.

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed posed as a 15-year-old American internet star and started conversations with his victims before engaging them in discussions about sexual fantasies.

In December, he pleaded guilty to 119 charges covering 550 incidents over an 11-month period.

Investigations revealed that he used multiple social media accounts to befriend young women and girls online and trick them into providing explicit content. He then blackmailed them into producing increasingly sexual videos and threatened to send previous content to their family and friends. In some cases, he forced his victims to perform sexual acts on camera while others watched.

A victim living in Canada told police she was 13 years old when she was contacted online by someone she believed to be a 15-year-old social media celebrity. He asked her a series of sexually explicit questions and then sent her edited screenshots of the conversation that falsely portrayed her as a supporter of his fantasies. The man then threatened to send these manipulated images to her friends and family if she did not send him sexually explicit videos.

“This type of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma,” McLean said.

“Under the guise of a social media star, the perpetrator manipulated and exploited 286 children and young adults for his own sadistic pleasure. Most of these victims were in their own homes, a place where they should have felt safe,” he added.

Rasheed has exploited and abused victims from 20 countries, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Guam, Israel, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Panama and South Africa. He is already serving a five-year prison sentence for twice abusing a 14-year-old girl in a car in a Perth park.

The court heard he is attending a treatment program but still poses a high risk of re-offending. He will be eligible to apply for parole in August 2033.