Predator Blackmailed Minors with False Model Agency Scam
Exploitation via Snapchat Ishmael Duncan, aged 24, utilized Snapchat to manipulate girls as young as nine from the UK, US, Canada, and Australia into sending explicit images and videos. Posing as a scout for a model agency, he coerced them into sending indecent content, even targeting a teenager with learning difficulties. Duncan, residing in Walnut Tree Walk, Lambeth, confessed to 50 child sex abuse and blackmail offenses related to 28 female victims.
Potential Vast Scale of Offenses Prosecutors suspect that Duncan may have reached out to nearly 10,000 children through Snapchat accounts created under various aliases. His method involved engaging potential victims by inquiring if they were interested in modeling for top fashion brands. He built trust through a fabricated interview process and counterfeit contracts featuring the logos of these brands.
Coercion and Threats Subsequently, Duncan requested topless photos under the guise of assessing the victims’ body shapes for modeling purposes. He threatened girls with being ‘blacklisted’ from modeling if they refused to comply. Duncan used multiple accounts and personas to contact victims, assuming roles such as the agency’s photographer ‘Callum’ or ‘Mark,’ the general manager of the agency’s preteen models division.
Blackmailing Victims He employed another account to contact the same victims and threatened to share their images on social media platforms unless they sent more explicit content. Victims received a chilling “warning” 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.”
Exploitation and Criminal Acts In some instances, Duncan posed as a teenage boy on Snapchat, soliciting sexual images and videos. He went to the extent of blackmailing a 14-year-old girl with learning difficulties who had sent him images, even offering her $1,000 (£804) to engage in a sex act with her brother.
Arrest and Discovery of Evidence Duncan’s activities came to light after two sisters in the US reported being threatened after sending images to one of his accounts. National Crime Agency officers arrested him in July 2021 at his residence, where they discovered 19,120 abusive images on his computer and phone, some of which were rated as the most severe possible.
Condemnation by Authorities Martin Ludlow, the agency’s operations manager, condemned Duncan’s actions, emphasizing his cruel exploitation of young girls pursuing modeling dreams. The threatening messages he sent demonstrated his callous disregard for the victims he exploited for his own sexual gratification.
Duncan’s Sentencing Ishmael Duncan is scheduled to be sentenced at the same court on December 1.