Man who posed as YouTube star jailed for global sextortion » Capital News

Aug. 28 – A rapist who posed as a teenage YouTube celebrity and blackmailed hundreds of girls around the world into performing sex acts on camera has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in Australia.

Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed pleaded guilty to 119 charges, involving 286 people from 20 countries, including the UK, the US, Japan and France. Two-thirds of his victims were under the age of 16.

A Perth court heard the 29-year-old forced victims into a cycle of increasingly extreme abuse by threatening to send explicit messages and images of themselves to their loved ones.

Australian authorities are calling it “one of the worst cases of sextortion” in history.

“The callous disregard this man had for his victims around the world and their suffering, humiliation and fear makes this one of the most horrific cases of sextortion ever prosecuted in Australia,” said Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean.

“This kind of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma.”

When Judge Amanda Burrows handed down her sentence on Tuesday, she said Rasheed’s offending was of such magnitude that there was “no comparable case” in the country, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Rasheed posed as a 15-year-old American internet star and initiated conversations with his targets, engaging them in discussions about sexual fantasies.

He threatened to send their responses to friends and family unless they performed a series of escalating, “degrading” sexual acts — sometimes involving pets and other children in their home.

The court heard that Rasheed was involved in misogynistic ‘incel’ communities online and that on several occasions he invited other people – in one case as many as 98 – to watch the harrowing acts live.

Many of the blackmailed children told him they were suicidal — one even sent him images of himself harming himself. But Rasheed continued his blackmail despite their “obvious distress” and “extreme fear,” the judge said, according to the ABC.

He was arrested after Interpol and US investigators contacted Australian authorities. He was charged in 2020 after a police raid on his home.

Rasheed is already serving a five-year prison sentence for twice sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in his car in a Perth park.

The court heard he was taking part in a sex offenders treatment programme, but Rasheed still posed a high risk of reoffending. He will be eligible to apply for parole in August 2033.

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