During a ‘horrific’ three-year blackmail campaign, a manipulative bully used Instagram and Moonpig to threaten to publish personal photos and videos of two women.
Yesterday, Zeashan Mahmood, 30, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison after two courageous women testified against him in court.
The Preston Crown Court heard that Mahmood created many bogus Instagram profiles to harass his victims, who handed him over £80,000 in an effort to prevent the photographs from being released.
Mahmood, of Foxtail Close in Clifton, Preston, even wrote one of them an email with the subject line “Guess who is alive?” and another with personal photographs of her attached.
In 2017, one of the victims provided intimate photographs and videos to Mahmood.
In January of 2018, he informed her that he was in financial trouble and demanded that she pay him money.
Then, he contacted her over Instagram under an identity and demanded that she give him additional money or he would post the intimate photos and videos online.
He allegedly threatened her family members if she did not cooperate, so she sent him £20,000 in instalments.
The second victim of Mahmood told the court that she had divulged to him an intimate sexual encounter she had previously had with a partner.
He then claimed to have a video of the event and wanted £7,000 from her, threatening to broadcast it to her family and friends if she did not comply.
In addition, Mahmood asked that the victim give personal images, videos, and messages of a sexual nature, threatening to raise the amount if she did not comply.
The defendant informed the victim that he required money to prevent the publication of the films and that the blackmail was a result of his membership in an organized criminal gang.
He then created more bogus Instagram profiles, which he used to contact the victim and persuade her that his claim was legitimate so that she would continue giving him sexual material and money.
Almost the course of three years, the victim gave Mahmood over £66,000.
Despite receiving payment for the recordings of the victim, Mahmood uploaded them on the internet and urged individuals to distribute them.
In response to the victim’s police complaint, the defendant sent her Moonpig cards with the message “money is required.”
Ultimately, he was apprehended in February 2021 as a result of a combined operation by Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Police.
Mahmood pled guilty to two charges of blackmail and three counts of disseminating obscene pictures with the purpose to cause emotional distress.
The GMP Manchester Criminal Investigation Department’s Detective Constable Brundrett said, “I would want to congratulate the victims for having the courage to come out about this awful and long-term abuse.”
Over the course of three years, Mahmood maneuvered his victims to obtain precisely what he wanted, when he wanted it.
The gravity of these crimes should not be minimized. This punishment is well-deserved and confirms our dedication as police officers to put these criminals behind prison and prevent future occurrences of this heinous act.