A Man Posing As A Youtube Star Was Arrested For Global Sextortion.
A predator who posed as a popular adolescent YouTuber and coerced 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 pled guilty to 119 offenses involving 286 individuals from 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and France. Two-thirds of his victims were under the age of sixteen.
A Perth court heard how the 29-year-old pushed them into a cycle of progressively severe abuse by threatening to send graphic messages and photographs of them to their loved ones.
Australian police describe it as “one of the worst sextortion cases” in history.
“The callous disregard this man had for his victims around the world, as well as their distress, humiliation, and fear, make it one of the most horrific sextortion cases prosecuted in Australia.”
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean stated
“This type of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma.”
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), when Judge Amanda Burrows handed down her sentence on Tuesday, she stated that Rasheed’s offense was so serious that there was “no comparable case” in the country.
Rasheed, who pretended to be a 15-year-old American internet celebrity, would start up a chat with his targets before engaging them in sexual fantasies.
He threatened to send their comments to friends and family unless they engaged in a series of escalating, “degrading” sex activities, which occasionally included family pets and other youngsters in their home.
Rasheed, according to the court, was involved in sexist “incel” forums online and had invited others—up to 98 in one case—to observe the horrific acts on a livestream.
Many of the extorted children told him they were suicidal, with one even sending photographs of self-harm. Despite their “obvious distress” and “extreme fear,” Rasheed continued his extortion, according to the judge, as reported by the ABC.
Interpol and US detectives alerted Australian authorities, and he was apprehended and prosecuted in 2020 following a police raid on his residence.
Rasheed is already serving a five-year prison sentence after sexually abusing a 14-year-old in his car at a Perth park.
Rasheed was enrolled in a sex offenders treatment program, but the court heard he remained at high risk of reoffending. He will be eligible to apply for parole in August 2033.
