A Perth man who posed as a teenage YouTuber and blackmailed hundreds of girls and young women around the world, including an Irish child, has been jailed for 17 years in western Australia.
Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed coerced 286 victims - including 180 children - from 20 different countries into performing sexually explicit acts on camera or video.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean, who led the investigation, said that Mr Rasheed used social media platforms to search for female victims.
"He was quite prolific in his use of social media platforms and literally searched and trolled young victims, potential victims, individuals, in groups, friendship groups, which didn't have their privacy settings adequately set, and that he was able to see their list of friends," Mr McLean told RTÉ's News at One.
Commissioner McLean said that the offender targeted individuals online, migrate to their friends, and generate conversations and connections to create the impression that he already had relationships within their circles.
"I think most importantly and significantly, in the context of this particular case, the offender as we know him today was actually posing online as a high-profile young social media personality."
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The perpetrator gained trust by using this profile, and then strike up conversations to lure victims into increasingly sexualised and sordid conversations, usually through text messages or chat.
"Once they had replied to sometimes innocuous questions and others more laced with sexual innuendo, he'd edit those chats and post them or threaten to post them back to them to give the impression that the young victims had indeed engaged in sexualised behaviour with him," Mr McLean said.
Once this trap was set, the offender would threaten to blackmail the young women. Some extortion was live-streamed to others.
Commissioner McLean said that the "terrible saga" was brought to light about five years ago when two young female victims, one in Israel and the other in Canada, raised the alarm.
The information was then passed to Mr McLean from US partners and Interpol, revealing victims worldwide, with the wave of abuse being "as diverse geographically as it was tragic".
Roughly 300 victims have been identified, but there could be others. Mr McLean confirmed that at least one victim was from Ireland.
"But for the present purposes, our investigation has been exhausted in terms of the digital media that we were able to seize, the enquiries that we’ve been able to make overseas."
However, related investigations are ongoing, with one additional arrest in the US.
"If you know someone who thinks they may be a victim of sextortion, some practical, fundamental and essential first steps are to stop online conversations, take screenshots of the conversations that have taken place, block the accounts that you might be engaging with and report it to the platform that you are on."
Commissioner McLean added that victims should seek support from friends, family, and support services.
He stressed that victims should not continue to engage with a perpetrator or meet their demands. And if they are worried about physical safety, call the police.
If you have been affected by this issue, there are resources available here.
