A harrowing case of online manipulation and blackmail has come to light as Ishmael Duncan, a 24-year-old London man, pleaded guilty to 50 offences related to exploiting young girls by posing as a model agency scout. Duncan’s actions involved coercing and blackmailing minors into sending indecent photos and videos of themselves.
The investigation into this disturbing case was spearheaded by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers, who identified Duncan as the individual behind several Snapchat accounts used to threaten and manipulate children into sending explicit images of themselves.
The case unraveled following a report to the NCA via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Two sisters in the United States had reported being threatened after sending explicit images to one of Duncan’s fraudulent accounts.
Analysis of IP data linked to the fake Snapchat profiles revealed that these accounts resolved to multiple locations. However, the NCA was able to establish that Ishmael Duncan was connected to all of them.
Duncan’s arrest occurred in July 2021 at his residence in Lambeth. During the investigation, numerous electronic devices were seized, including material recovered from cloud storage. This evidence included chat logs from various Snapchat accounts Duncan used and indecent images he had coerced from children.
A staggering 28 female victims, some as young as nine, from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia were identified in this case. Shockingly, investigators estimate that Duncan may have contacted close to 10,000 children online through these fraudulent accounts.
Duncan’s modus operandi involved approaching potential victims, asking if they were interested in becoming models for reputed fashion brands. After collecting their age and personal details, he requested clothed images or videos, luring them into a lengthy interview process meant to build trust. He then sent seemingly legitimate contracts featuring impersonated brand logos.
Under the pretext of assessing the victims’ body shape and editing potential clothing items onto them, Duncan manipulated them into providing topless photos. Those who resisted were threatened with the deletion of their original photos or being ‘blacklisted’ from modelling.
Duncan maintained multiple personas within the model agency, adopting names like ‘Callum’ (the photographer) and ‘Mark’ (the general manager of the preteen models division). He also created additional accounts to recontact previous victims, threatening to expose and share their photos unless they complied with his demands for more explicit images.
The investigation uncovered a total of 19,120 indecent images of children categorised as A-C (A being the most severe) on Duncan’s devices and cloud storage.
Duncan faced 53 counts, including inciting children under 13 to engage in sexual activity, blackmail, sexual communication with a child, indecent images of children (making and possession), and possession of extreme pornographic images. He pleaded guilty to 42 counts on August 21 and admitted to eight more counts on September 14, with two counts and one count lying on file, respectively.
Ishmael Duncan is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1 at Inner London Crown Court.
