Rapist jailed after using Snapchat to target young Muslim men

A rapist has been jailed after using Snapchat to target young Muslim men thinking they would be less likely to speak to police.

Waleed Saeed, 31, has been jailed for 16 years after he would pose as a young woman or transgender woman on Snapchat before exploiting and raping his victims.

He would request intimate images from young men and exploit them for money by saying he would reveal their sexualities to their families.

In 2024, a man reported being raped in a London park, telling officers he had exchanged images with someone he thought was a transgender woman.

Saeed 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 where Saeed – 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.

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.

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’.

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.

He was sentenced for 17 offences against five victims, including rape, blackmail and making indecent images of children.

On Friday, he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Protection Order, the force added.

The force is encouraging people to come forward if they recognise the user names or believe they have been in contact with Saeed.

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.’

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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