A sexual predator who targeted mostly Muslim males online for blackmail has been jailed for 16 years, and detectives fear he may have up to 70 more victims.
Waleed Saeed’s campaign of entrapment, threat and extortion started in 2018 and left two victims feeling suicidal because of the humiliation they felt.
Police said the 31-year-old targeted people from culturally conservative backgrounds to exploit any shame they may have felt, during a six-year campaign of offending.
Detectives believe he would mostly pretend to be either a young woman or a transgender woman using false online profiles and encouraged those he targeted to send intimate pictures. He would then reveal himself to be a man and demand hundreds of pounds, often threatening that the targets would be exposed to their families or publicly.
Saeed, from Ilford, east London, was caught in 2024 after he coerced a victim into meeting him in an east London park and, while covering his face, raped and sexually assaulted him.
He was found guilty in March and jailed at Snaresbrook crown court on Friday for 17 offences against five males, including one rape, blackmail, and making indecent images of children.
Detectives from the Metropolitan police believe Saeed had many more victims, aged from their mid teens to their 20s. Searches of his electronic devices unearthed scores of pictures of men, and from this alone detectives believe there may be 50 to 70 more victims.
Some have not been identified as all police have are intimate images that do not show faces, or usernames that are not the real name of the person whom Saeed targeted.
Detectives also combed through details of similar unsolved or closed cases and found 24 where the details of the offending were similar enough to lead police to suspect he may have been involved in those.
Detectives believe the potential number of further victims could be anywhere between the 70s and 90s. In all, he was sentenced for targeting five victims, two of whom were aged 15 and 17.
The judge, Timothy Greene, said Saeed, who has a university degree, was “adept at turning the psychological screw” on his victims, enjoying the power he gained and leaving them in terror of exposure.
After raping one victim, Saeed had uttered “that’s all for today” and walked off, the judge said.
The court heard that one victim went to police in 2018 and Saeed was arrested and bailed a year later. But his offending continued after no charges were brought.
His victims told the court of their anguish. One said: “I felt trapped and lost,” adding that Saeed had taken his virginity.
The victim said he paid more than £3,600 in total, fearing family and friends would ostracise him if they found out. “The shame I felt by letting this happen to me is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life,” he said.
DC Peter Collington, of the Metropolitan police, who is leading the investigation into Saeed, said: “Our investigation has led us to believe that the true scale of his offending is likely to be significantly wider. The pattern of offending we have uncovered is deeply disturbing and shows a level of deliberate manipulation and cruelty that has caused immense harm to innocent men.
“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. As part of our investigation, we’ve wrapped dedicated support around those who have already come forward.”
Collington urged those who may believe they were victims of Saeed’s “sextortion” to contact police, and promised officers would be sensitive as they investigate their cases, hoping to bring new charges against Saeed.
“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. I want to say this clearly to potential victims out there: what has happened to you was not your fault,” he said. “We want to be absolutely clear that no one should ever have their sexuality exploited or weaponised against them in this way.
Saeed would lure his victims, scouring Snapchat, Grindr and Twitter, using an array of usernames such as “Trans Girl Leah”, “amzyyyy09.”, “blsup” and “ComeDeal”. Police say he was relentless, using 100 online aliases, with victims believed to be in London and across the UK.
His arrest came after he raped an 18-year-old man in a park in August 2024. His victim said he had swapped sexual images with someone he believed to be a transgender woman. A different account then sent him messages from a man demanding money otherwise the explicit photos would be released.
The victim said he could not pay and Saeed coerced him to meet in person, threatening to release the photos if he refused. They met three times late at night where Saeed sexually assaulted and raped the victim.
The victim of the rape went to police who examined data from social media accounts used by Saeed to find him, and he was arrested in November 2024.
