Indian student who posed as teenage boy on Snapchat to trick over 70 girls into sending explicit images of themselves jailed for 30 years

An Indian student who tricked more than 70 girls into sharing explicit images by posing online as a teenage boy has been jailed for 30 years.Bilal Kazi, 27, who had overstayed his student visa, preyed on girls as young as ten by pretending to be a blond, white boy called 'Reece' on Snapchat and other apps popular with children.The 'sexual predator' would convince them into believing they were in a relationship, then lure them into sharing increasingly sexually explicit images of themselves.If they refused, he would blackmail them by threatening to share details with their friends and family.One victim aged 13 attempted suicide after Kazi callously went through with his threat, circulating an explicit video which was seen by almost 100 of her friends, a court heard today.Jailing him after he admitted 33 child sexual offences, Judge Steven Everett, the Honorary Recorder of Chester, said Kazi had targeted 'children who believed they were safe in their own homes'.'He’s taken away their childhoods.'The judge said Kazi had taken advantage of a 'lack of proper security on social media sites which should have been there to prevent young persons from being taken advantage of by sexual predators like you'.The case comes amid concerns over an 'alarming' rise in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire. Bilal Kazi, 27, an Indian student who was doing a chemistry PhD at Chester University, tricked more than 70 young girls into sharing explicit images of themselves by posing online as a 14-year-old boy called Reece One of the images which Kazi stole to create his 'Reece' alter ego on social media to dupe girls (face obscured to protect the boy's identity)Labour last year announced plans to text foreign students warning they will be kicked out of the country when their visas run out.They are also expected to set out detailed regulations setting out how the ban on under-16s using social media will operate before the end of this year.Kazi, originally from Mumbai, began a chemistry PhD at the University of Chester.He later studied for a masters in chemical engineering at Birmingham University.But Kazi later overstayed his student visa, although it is understood that he was in the country legally. Police were first alerted in 2021 after he circulated images of one of his victims on social media.After a 'mammoth' nationwide investigation into online child sex abuse involving 28 police forces from Scotland to Cornwall, detectives eventually traced 71 victims aged as young as ten.However they suspect the true number may be as high as 180, making it one of the worst cases of its kind. Primarily using Snapchat, but also via Roblox and Wink, Kazi would typically pose as a 14-year-old blond-haired boy named Reece, using a picture he had found online as his profile image.Having ‘reeled them in’ using the fake persona and gained victims’ trust, he would persuade them to share sexual images, believing he would not keep copies.He would then blackmail them into giving him increasingly explicit footage, threatening to send images he had already screenshotted to family and friends if they did not comply.Prosecutor Myles Wilson said Kazi would tell girls that sharing sexually explicit images of themselves was what happens 'if you love each other'. Image of chat in which Kazi - posing as Reece - revealed to one horrified victim that he had saved explicit images she had sent him over social media after she refused to share any more 'nudes'As part of his callous blackmail campaign, Kazi demanded the girl sent him more images and also share her locationIn one case a 13-year-old girl refused to send any more clips and images after realising she was being 'exploited' and blocked his account.To her horror, Kazi took revenge by sharing one of the videos she had sent him on social media where it was seen by 93 of her friends, he told Chester Crown Court. In a victim personal statement read to the hearing, the girl – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – said she had later attempted suicide as a result. 'All my teenage years have been taken up by what he did to me,' she said, describing how she had felt 'violated'.'I’ve had this hanging over my head the entire time and it’s robbed me of a normal, teenage experience.'Another girl who was 12 when Kazi targeted her said the realisation she had unwittingly sent explicit photos of herself to a grown man had left her feeling 'upset, vulnerable and deeply uncomfortable'.'I’ve struggled with anxiety and I often worry about who has seen the images and whether they exist and could be shared again,' she said.After professing his ‘love’ for girls he had met online, Kazi would demand more explicit content, Det Con Georgia Hughes told the Daily Mail.‘But if what he asked became too much and they refused, he would then threaten to leak the images and videos they had already sent to him to their friends and family.’Cruelly he would subject them to ‘degrading’ language if they dared to resist him, with one girl branded a ‘fat slut’ in messages recovered by police.In some cases, police believe Kazi would target a single victim for more than a year, speaking to them on a daily basis.Some ‘really believed they were in relationship with a 14 year-old boy named Reece’, Det Con Hughes said.‘The first time they realised they weren’t when the police were knocking on their door.‘To find out the whole thing was a deception and he was really a 27-year-old man, it’s ruined their trust.’Others were ‘living in fear’ that he would go ahead with his threat to pass on explicit images they had been tricked into sharing with him, she added.Some of the girls targeted by Kazi already suffered from low self-esteem and have ‘struggled to develop further relationships’, the detective added.‘It’s really scarred the way that they view the world.’After police traced his identity following the initial report, Kazi was arrested at Heathrow Airport as he arrived back from Kuwait where his family are believed to live in July 2023.His mobile was seized and taken for ‘forensic download’ before he was released on bail.Police found more than 400 indecent images and videos on his phone, plus a further 500 on his devices at his home in Birmingham. Following efforts to trace victims which ultimately encompassed more than half of Britain’s police forces, Kazi was rearrested in March 2025.Confronted by the scale of his crimes, he answered ‘no comment’ in response to questioning, with detectives saying he ‘showed no remorse’.He was again bailed but police discovered he had secretly bought a new mobile phone and began targeting girls again.As a result he was arrested for a third time in August 2025 and remanded in custody.Today Syed Ahmed, defending, said Kazi was 'sorry' for what he’d done and accepted he must be punished.He read out a letter from Kazi in which he accepted his actions had been 'immoral and hideous'.He had pleaded guilty rather than forcing the girls to face the ordeal of a trial as he had already 'made them go through unfathomable pain and suffering', his letter added.Kazi, of Selly Oak, Birmingham, admitted multiple offences including of causing a girl under 13 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, making indecent images of children, and blackmail.The offences he has admitted cover August 2021 to August 2025.He will be required to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole. Following his release from jail he will spend eight years on an extended licence, with a sexual harm prevention order also imposed.Afterwards Martin McRobb, a specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Kazi had 'acted with absolute ruthlessness in grooming, manipulating and exploiting a large number of young vulnerable girls'.For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or see thecalmzone.net/get-support