Online abuser posed as stockbroker to blackmail thousands of victims, court told

A serial online blackmailer targeted almost 2,000 victims to amass images of degrading sexual acts and then sold “box sets” of abuse to other paedophiles, a court has heard.

Abdul Elahi, 26, has admitted 158 charges committed against 72 complainants and is believed to have tried to exploit victims globally in 34 different countries.

At the start of a sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, Elahi was described as being “in a league of his own” in terms of the sheer scale of his offending, “juggling” many tens of potential victims at any one time while using a fake persona to pose as a wealthy stockbroker offering financial assistance.

Prosecutor Adrian Langdale QC told the court: “The whole persona, the whole arrangement, was a sham from the very beginning.

“He simply, it would appear, saw his victims as a way of making money. Victims were targeted day after day, with no let-up from Mr Elahi.”

The court heard that some women and young girls were blackmailed into abusing a baby or a sibling by Elahi, who had offered to pay off debts with Bitcoin.

Mr Langdale said the offending spanned a three-year period from 2017 to 2019, with many of the offences committed while Elahi was on bail and subject to a sexual risk order.

Elahi also “acted as a mentor” to other online abusers, the court heard, with “copy-cat” offenders targeting some of his victims, the Crown alleges.

Mr Langdale told the court: “We maintain that Mr Elahi is an exceptionally dangerous predator.”

The so-called “box sets” of abusive images and videos compiled by Elahi were distributed in vast quantities, the court heard, after girls and young adults were blackmailed into providing humiliating and degrading sexual material.

Around 550 females in Britain are believed to have been targeted by Elahi, with almost 2,000 identified altogether in the UK and US.

Mr Langdale said Elahi had switched online conversations to WhatsApp to cover his tracks, adding: “Sixty-seven thousand indecent images of children have been recovered from numerous devices and cloud storage for Elahi.

“There is evidence that he carefully structured and logged all of his material.

“He sold that material on with a clear financial motive irrespective of the damage that he was causing by spreading this material.”

Among those targeted on so-called “sugar daddy” websites were financially desperate victims, including mothers at risk of losing their homes or struggling to feed their children.

During the offending, the court heard, Elahi was living in his family home and his only legitimate income was from working for a short period in a branch of McDonald’s.

Mr Langdale said: “As he was eventually to admit… he said this was a full-time career and occupation.

“At any given time, Elahi would be in conversation with many tens of potential victims.”

Elahi admitted a host of charges at previous hearings after a lengthy investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Elahi, formerly of Allcroft Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, is expected to be sentenced later this week.