How an Australian posed as a teen YouTuber and committed 'one of the worst sextortion cases' in history

A predator masquerading as a popular teenage YouTuber has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in Australia after blackmailing hundreds of girls worldwide into performing sexual acts on camera. Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed, 29, has been described as the perpetrator behind “one of the worst sextortion cases in history.”

His actions impacted nearly 300 victims across 20 countries, leading to a global investigation that ultimately resulted in his conviction.

What was his predatory scheme?

Rasheed’s modus operandi was chillingly calculated. Pretending to be a 15-year-old American social media influencer, he targeted vulnerable young girls by initiating seemingly innocent conversations.

Once trust was established, Rasheed would steer the discussions toward sexual fantasies, coercing his victims into sharing explicit content by threatening to expose their messages and images to their loved ones.

The Perth court heard that Rasheed’s sinister tactics were methodical and relentless. He demanded that his victims, many of whom were under the age of 16, perform increasingly degrading sexual acts, sometimes involving family pets or younger siblings.

Rasheed’s blackmail was ruthless — he would set a “countdown” timer, warning his victims that he would share their compromising content if they did not comply with his escalating demands.

One Canada-based victim told police she was just 13 when someone she thought was a 15-year-old social media celebrity contacted her online. Instead, it was the Perth man, who asked her a series of sexually explicit questions before sending edited screen shots of the conversation that depicted the victim liking his sexual fantasies.

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

What was the scale of his crime?

The sheer scale of Rasheed’s crimes is staggering. He pleaded guilty to 119 charges, relating to 286 victims, most of whom were children. The charges covered more than 550 incidents over an 11-month period. In sentencing him, Judge Amanda Burrows stated that the magnitude of Rasheed’s offences was unparalleled in Australia, saying, “There is no comparable case I can find in Australia.”

Two-thirds of Rasheed’s victims were under 16, and many were left severely traumatised by the abuse. Despite some of his victims expressing suicidal thoughts and sending images of self-harm, Rasheed continued his blackmail, showing no empathy or remorse.

The court also revealed that Rasheed frequently invited other paedophiles to watch live streams of the abusive acts, amplifying the trauma inflicted on the children.

Rasheed was first apprehended after Australian authorities were alerted by Interpol and US investigators. He was charged in 2020 following a police raid on his Perth home. Rasheed was already serving a five-year sentence for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl at a Perth park during the same period he was conducting his online offences.

“The victims will forever live with the fear that the recordings you made of them will be [further] disseminated,” Judge Burrows remarked while handing down the sentence.

What did the investigation comprise?

The investigation into Rasheed’s activities was a massive international effort. Australian Federal Police (AFP), in collaboration with the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Interpol, worked tirelessly to identify and support the victims, who were scattered across 20 countries, including the UK, US, Japan, and France.

Rasheed had used multiple social media accounts to manipulate his victims, many of whom were led to believe they were interacting with a well-known YouTuber.

The AFP’s Western Australia Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET) played a crucial role in piecing together the evidence against Rasheed. They meticulously reviewed thousands of jumbled text conversations, images, and videos to ensure that every offence was accounted for.

This involved separating and analysing data from Rasheed’s various social media accounts, a process that required extensive coordination with international law enforcement agencies.

“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,” Assistant Commissioner McLean said.

HSI attache Ernest Verina echoed this sentiment, stating, “HSI will always stand with Australia on a global scale to hold accountable those who commit these heinous crimes against our children.”

The man exploited and abused victims from 20 countries - 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 Netherlands.

What may have led Rasheed to commit these crimes?

Rasheed’s disturbing behavior was not a sudden development but rather the culmination of years of escalating deviance. According to a psychiatric report presented in court, Rasheed’s sexual interest in pubescent children and his coercive sexual sadism disorder made him a high risk for reoffending.

His involvement in misogynistic “incel” communities online, where women are viewed as inferior and as objects of male gratification, further fueled his predatory actions.

The court heard that Rasheed, originally from Pakistan, had a strict and conservative upbringing. He attended an all-boys private school in Australia, where he and his brothers were the only Muslim students, leading to feelings of social isolation.

He began accessing child exploitation material in 2018, which eventually led to direct offending in 2019 when the material alone no longer satisfied his perverse desires.

“You began to see women and girls as objects of gratification rather than people. These ideas were amplified in the forums … you visited,” the psychiatric report detailed.

Despite his participation in a sex offenders treatment program while in prison, Rasheed remains a significant threat, with experts assessing him as having a “well above average risk” of reoffending.