Bangladeshi Man Brought to US for Exploiting Hundreds of Teen Girls Online

A 28-year-old man from Bangladesh has been transported to Alaska to face federal charges for allegedly tricking hundreds of teenage girls into sending explicit images through social media. Zobaidul Amin allegedly used fake identities to manipulate victims and then threatened to share the images with their friends and family unless they sent more.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Federal authorities have brought a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man to the United States to face charges related to the online sexual exploitation of hundreds of teenage girls across the country.

Zobaidul Amin entered a not guilty plea during his first court appearance in Anchorage on Thursday, following his transfer from Malaysia where the FBI had taken him into custody. Amin had been attending medical school in Kuala Lumpur while facing similar charges there, according to federal prosecutors.

Court documents reveal disturbing details about Amin’s alleged crimes. “Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media,” prosecutors stated in their detention filing. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm. He shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims all over the internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.”

Federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Amin in 2022 on multiple charges including child pornography, cyberstalking and wire fraud. Authorities say he created fake online personas, frequently pretending to be a teenager himself, to manipulate his young victims into sharing explicit photographs.

The case originated when a 14-year-old girl from Alaska contacted law enforcement about her abuse. She told investigators that when she stopped responding to Amin’s messages, he carried out his threats by distributing her explicit images to people in her social circle.

Through extensive investigation involving numerous search warrants and subpoenas, federal agents identified Amin and discovered he had targeted hundreds of minors in similar schemes. According to prosecutors, Amin told victims the only way to stop his demands for additional images was to help him find new victims.

Prosecutors say Amin believed his location in Malaysia made him immune from American law enforcement. “Because he was in Malaysia and his victims were primarily in the U.S., Amin viewed himself as untouchable by law enforcement,” court documents state. “In one conversation, he told a minor victim that the ‘cops won’t do anything,’ and the ‘cops won’t track me down because I live no where near u.'”

Initial attempts to extradite Amin were unsuccessful, but Malaysian authorities filed their own charges with FBI assistance, the Justice Department reported. After his release on bail during those proceedings, the United States ultimately secured his expulsion from Malaysia, allowing FBI agents to take custody and transport him to Alaska.

FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the agency’s global commitment to protecting children. “The FBI’s commitment to protecting our children from exploitation doesn’t change whether an offender is here in the United States or overseas,” Patel said in an official statement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon ruled Thursday that Amin must remain jailed as his case moves forward through the court system.