Pervert posed as a model agency scout on fake Snapchat profile

Pervert posed as a model agency scout on fake Snapchat profiles to blackmail dozens of girls as young as nine worldwide into sending indecent photos and videos of themselves

• Ishmael Duncan, 24, had a total of 19,120 indecent images of children  

A pervert who posed as a model agency scout on social media blackmailed dozens of young girls – some as young as nine-years-old – worldwide into sending explicit photos and videos of themselves.

Ishmael Duncan, 24, was identified by detectives in London after he was found to have contacted thousands of youngsters via fake Snapchat accounts, which were used to coerce and threaten them into sending explicit images.

A file had been sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) after two sisters in the United States reported being threatened after sending explicit images to one of the accounts.

Following analysis of internet data, cops were able to establish Duncan was linked to multiple fake Snapchat accounts. 

A total of 28 female victims were traced from Britain, Canada and Australia as well as the US but investigators believe he contacted close to 10,000 children online through the accounts.

Ishmael Duncan, 24, was identified by detectives in London after he was found to have contacted thousands of youngsters via fake Snapchat accounts

Duncan appeared at Inner London Crown Court last month where he pleaded guilty to 42 of the counts

Detectives recovered a total of 19,120 indecent images of children from Duncan’s devices and cloud storage. 

He was arrested in July 2021 at his home in Kennington, south east London, and several devices were seized.

Material recovered from the devices and cloud storage included chat logs from the various Snapchat accounts Duncan used and indecent images he had extorted from children.

Duncan would begin by approaching potential victims to ask if they were interested in becoming a model for well-known fashion brands.

Those that responded would be asked for their age and personal details before he requested images or videos.

He then took them through a lengthy interview process to build their trust and sent them legitimate looking contracts which featured the impersonated brand’s logo.

The criminal would then request topless photos on the pretext of assessing the victims’ body shape, and to use as a base for editing in potential clothes to be modelled.

Girls who questioned him were told the original pictures would be deleted after editing, with some threatened with being ‘blacklisted’ from modelling if they didn’t comply.

Duncan contacted victims from several accounts and adopted different personas within the model agency to give a sense of authenticity, including a photographer called ‘Callum’ and ‘Mark’ – the general manager of the preteen models division.

He then created another account to contact the same victims, sometimes several months later, threatening to expose and share their photos unless they complied with his demands for more images.

Part of the sickening process was to send a text stating: ‘This is an automated message. We have your nudes, and unless you reply to this message saying “I understand”, they will be sent out to expose accounts on Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.

‘If you reply with anything else other than ‘I understand’, or if you block or unfriend this account, your nudes will be sent out. This is your first and only warning.’

Duncan targeted other potential victims by claiming to be a child of a similar age, requesting sexual images and videos.

On one occasion he blackmailed a 14-year-old girl with learning difficulties who sent him images and also offered her $1,000 to engage in a sexual act with her brother.

He was charged with 53 counts including causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, blackmail, sexual communication with a child, indecent and prohibited images of children and possession of extreme pornographic images.

He appeared at Inner London Crown Court last month where he pleaded guilty to 42 of the counts.

Duncan admitted a further eight counts at the same court yesterday. Two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of blackmail will lie on file.

Duncan is due to be sentenced at the same court on December 1.

Martin Ludlow, NCA operations manager, said: ‘Ishmael Duncan cruelly preyed on young girls who had dreams of becoming models.

‘The threatening messages he sent were chilling and showed his callous disregard for the victims he exploited for his own sexual gratification in this case.’

He added: ‘The NCA worked closely with overseas partners to identify and safeguard victims, a number of whom provided evidence against Duncan.

‘We will continue to operate online and internationally to target those offenders who pose the most serious risk to children.’

Jeanette Smith, CPS specialist prosecutor, said: ‘Ishmael Duncan made a number of different accounts with false personas, for the predatory purpose of targeting children online and obtaining sexual images of them for his own gratification.

‘Using fake profiles, often posing as a modelling agent or a teenage boy, Duncan was able to manipulate children into sending indecent images of themselves. He would then go on to threaten and blackmail his victims to comply with his sick demands for more explicit material.’

She added: ‘This conviction sends a clear message that the CPS, working alongside the NCA and international partners, will work to bring justice to those who sexually abuse and exploit children, wherever that abuse takes place.

‘The CPS’s Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit was set up last year as a specialist unit dedicated to prosecuting child sexual abuse, in all its forms.’

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