A man has been jailed in what has been described as one of the worst sextortion cases in history after posing as a teenage social media celebrity to force more than 250 victims, including 180 children, to perform sexually explicit acts on camera.
Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed, 29, from Perth, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the sextortion of 286 victims.
He was sentenced in Perth District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 119 charges in December last year.
The charges stemmed from more than 550 incidents over an 11-month period.
The judge also took into account three other charges covering 108 incidents of conduct when sentencing.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner David McLean described the case as one of the worst sextortion cases in history.
AFP worked with the US Homeland Security Investigations and Interpol to investigate reports that an Australian man was sending sexual messages to girls via social media.
AFP officers in WA worked with police in several countries to identify the victims and check on their welfare.
Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed (right) will spend 17 years behind bars
The Western Australian Joint Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET), with officers from the AFP and WA Police, launched an investigation in September 2019.
WA JACET discovered that Rasheed used multiple social media accounts to attack his victims.
Rasheed would contact young women who had visible friends lists on social media and attempt to befriend them before manipulating them into providing him with explicit content.
He then blackmailed them into providing him with increasingly sexual and degrading videos and threatened to send the previously explicit content to their family and friends.
A Canadian victim told police she was 13 when someone she thought was a 15-year-old social media celebrity contacted her online.
But it was Rasheed who asked her sexually explicit questions before sending edited screenshots of the conversation showing the victim indulging in her sexual fantasies.
Rasheed then threatened to send the manipulated images to her friends and family unless she complied with his demands for sexually explicit videos.
He sometimes forced victims to perform sexual acts on camera; in one case, the act was watched by nearly 100 other people.
He also spoke online with other child sex offenders, exchanging sextortion strategies and details of children who were susceptible to blackmail and abuse.
AFP first charged Rasheed when he was 25, in September 2020, and filed further charges in 2021.
Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed pleaded guilty to 119 charges last December
Since September 2019, AFP and Commonwealth prosecutors have reviewed the man’s chat logs, videos and photographs stored online.
AFP investigators have contacted international law enforcement partners to identify the victims and the extent of the sexual exploitation and abuse.
As several young women were attacked at the same time, police had to sort through thousands of confusing text conversations from social media accounts to ensure all crimes were identified.
AFP Deputy Commissioner McLean said Rasheed’s abhorrent actions and callous disregard for the obvious distress, humiliation and fear of his victims made it one of the most horrific sextortion cases prosecuted in Australia.
“This type of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma,” she said.
‘The predator, through his facade of being a social media celebrity, 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 feel safe.
‘Sextortion can escalate in a matter of minutes.
‘We encourage parents and guardians to talk to their children regularly about their online activities, so they feel comfortable asking for help if they need it.
“We also want to remind people to never share personal information with people they have only met online.”
Rasheed posed as a teenage social media celebrity to coerce his victims, including 180 children.
Homeland Security Investigations Attaché Ernest Verina said HSI was steadfast in its mission to protect victims of child exploitation.
“HSI will always stand with Australia on a global scale to hold accountable those who commit these heinous crimes against our children,” she said.
The man exploited and abused victims from 20 countries including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Guam, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, South Africa, Spain and the Netherlands.