Bangladeshi man tricked hundreds of US teens into sending him nudes for years—How 14-year-old's complaint led to arrest

A 28-year-old Bangladeshi man has been accused of child sexual exploitation in the United States. He allegedly used social media to trick teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit images, and then threatened to share them with their friends and family if they didn't send more.

He adopted false identities, often posing as a teenager, to trick victims into sending him explicit images, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing US prosecutors.

The accused, Zobaidul Amin, who was studying medicine in Malaysia, was flown to Alaska from Kuala Lumpur to face the federal charges. He pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance.

“The FBI’s commitment to protecting our children from exploitation doesn’t change whether an offender is here in the United States or overseas,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a news release.

‘Bragged’ about causing mental harm

In a detention memorandum, US prosecutors said Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm.”

The prosecutors said Amin shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims all over the internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.

How was Zobaidul Amin caught?

• A 14-year-old Alaska girl first reported Amin to law enforcement, triggering an investigation.
• In her report of the abuse, the minor claimed that after she stopped communicating with Amin, he followed through on his threats by sending pornographic images of her to her friends and followers.
• In 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Amin on charges including child pornography, cyberstalking and wire fraud.

• US prosecutors, in the detention memorandum, said the accused adopted false identities, often posing as a teenager, to trick victims into sending him explicit images.
• In executing dozens of search warrants and subpoenas, investigators eventually learned his identity and realised he had done similar things to hundreds of minor victims, prosecutors said.
• According to the prosecutors, Amin told his victims that the only way to get him to stop demanding more images was to recruit other victims.
• “Because he was in Malaysia and his victims were primarily in the US, Amin viewed himself as untouchable by law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote.
• “In one conversation, he told a minor victim that the ‘cops won’t do anything,’ and the ‘cops won’t track me down because I live no where near u.’”

Amin's extradition

Efforts to extradite Amin to face charges failed, but with FBI assistance, Malaysian authorities brought charges, the Justice Department said.

He was released on bail during the proceedings, and eventually the US succeeded in having him expelled from Malaysia. The FBI took him into custody and flew him to Alaska.

(With AP inputs)