On Friday 19 June 2026, Snaresbrook Crown Court sentenced Waleed Saeed, 31, who used Snapchat to target young Muslim and south Asian men to sixteen years in prison.
A police detective said Waleed targeted Muslims because he believed that they would be less likely to report to police. Investigators believe there may be more victims.
Waleed of Azalea Close, Ilford, East London, would pose as a young woman or transgender woman on Snapchat and request intimate images, the Metropolitan Police said.
He would then exploit the young men for money by revealing his true identity and often threatening to expose them to their families, communities, universities, workplaces and friends, it added.
Two of his victims were aged 15 and 17 and his offending showed “a level of deliberate manipulation and cruelty that caused immense harm”, said lead investigator Detective Constable Peter Collington.
He was sentenced for 17 offences against five victims including rape, blackmail and making indecent images of children, according to the Met.
Dc Collington said: “We know Saeed began offending in 2018, deliberately targeting young men from south Asian and Muslim backgrounds on the impression that these victim-survivors would be less likely to contact police.”
The probe was launched in August 2024 after a man reported being raped in a London park.
The victim told officers that he had exchanged sexual images with someone he thought was a transgender woman, the force said.
Waleed soon started sending him threatening messages from another account and revealed his true identity as a man, it added.
He threatened to share the images if the victim did not pay and, when he said he could not, Saeed demanded they meet in person.
The young man was coerced into three late-night meetings in a London park during the following weeks. At the meetings, Waleed – while concealing his identity with a face covering – sexually assaulted and raped him, police said.
It took officers months to trace the social media accounts to the offender, and he was arrested in November 2024.
Two seized mobile phones were found to contain intimate images linked to further unidentified victims, some believed to be children.
He was charged with eight counts of rape, blackmail and threatening to share a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state on November 19, 2024.
Officers started to cross-check Saeed’s online presence with non-recent cases where no suspect was identified and lines of inquiry were exhausted.
They discovered reports that dated back to 2018 within London and other parts of the UK.
These showed Saeed posing as a young woman or transgender woman and exploiting victims with the threat of exposure.
He was then charged with a further nine counts in relation to four additional victims on March 25, 2025.
On March 2 this year he pleaded guilty to charges relating to four victims, the Met said.
Police said these were: two counts of threatening to share photograph or film of person in intimate state; two counts of blackmail; two counts of making indecent photographs of a child; intimidation; distributing an indecent image of a child; and disclosing or threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
The Met said a jury found him guilty of further charges relating to a fifth victim on March 12: four counts of rape of a man aged 16 or over; attempting to rape a man aged 16 or over; causing a male to engage in penetrative sexual activity; threatening to share a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state; and blackmail.
On Friday he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Protection Order, the force added.
Saeed used multiple Snapchat profiles with variations on the username “blsup” – such as “blsup1” and “blsup2021” – and “ComeDeal”, including “comedeal” and “comedealillstop”.
He also pretended to be a transgender woman on accounts named “Trans Girl Leah” or “amzyyyy09”.
The force is encouraging people to come forward if they recognise the user names or believe they have been in contact with Waleed.
Dc Collington said: “As part of our investigation, we’ve wrapped dedicated support around those who have already come forward.
“Following his sentence, I am making a direct appeal to other victim-survivors who may not have had the confidence to come forward, to please contact us.
“We want to be absolutely clear that no one should ever have their sexuality exploited or weaponised against them in this way.
“You will be treated with compassion, sensitivity and absolute confidentiality. What has been done to you is wrong, and we will do everything in our power to support you.”
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