'Lingerie consultant' cheats young women, gets explicit photos and sex

SINGAPORE – Claiming to be a female lingerie consultant, a man convinced three women to send him sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves posing in underwear. 

He promised the women a job as his personal assistant and said he required those photos and videos to assess their suitability for the role.

Over four years, Muhammad Nazri Sapar, 32, also lured a woman into becoming a sex worker and threatened to inform her family of her activities if she did not become his mistress and satisfy other demands. 

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including cheating by personation and criminal intimidation.

At the time of his offences, which took place between 2014 and 2018, Nazri was married. 

The court heard that in 2017, Nazri posed as “Shahirah Malek”, a lingerie consultant, and posted an advertisement on Facebook for a personal assistant, with a starting pay of $2,500.

The first victim, a 21-year-old woman, responded to the advertisement sometime that year. 

She and all the other victims cannot be named due to a gag order. 

He told the first victim to buy G-strings and send him photographs and videos of herself daily wearing them. 

She sent him a total of 59 videos and 87 photographs between September 2017 and January 2018. 

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In April 2018, two other women, both aged 22, contacted Nazri about the job.

When one of the women expressed reservations about the job, Nazri created a Facebook Messenger group with himself, the two women and the 21-year-old woman, whom he introduced as his former personal assistant.  

He privately told the 21-year-old to send obscene photographs and videos of herself to the group chat to convince the other two women to do so.

He also lured another woman into working as a prostitute and performing sex acts with him. 

He first approached the woman on Facebook in November 2014 using a fake Facebook profile. She was only 19 then. 

Over time, she confided in him that she was in debt and needed money. 

Nazri then suggested she work as a prostitute to earn money.

He told her another woman, “Nurul Huda”, would contact her with more information. But the “woman” was another fake profile that he had created.

“Nurul Huda” introduced the victim to a messaging group Nazri created and informed other users of the group that if they wanted to have sex, they could contact the 19-year-old. 

Between November 2014 and April 2015, the victim provided sexual services to 20 clients. 

Although she was allowed to keep her earnings, which ranged between $50 and $100 for various sex acts, she had to send Nazri photographs and videos of her sexual encounters with her clients.

In April 2015, she found another job. When Nazri came to know about it, he threatened to post her sexually explicit photos online and inform her family that she was involved in prostitution if she did not comply with his demands, such as becoming his mistress. 

Nazri continued to send her threatening e-mails until May 2018 even after she lodged a police report in April 2017.

He was arrested on May 30, 2018. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min asked for a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and three to six strokes of the cane. 

In her submissions, the prosecutor said: “The accused’s culpability was at the highest level. Not only did he act with clear premeditation and subterfuge, he showed no remorse or doubt whatsoever.” 

“The accused’s lewd pursuit of sexual exploitation was not only serious, it completely eclipsed any consideration of the victims.” 

Nazri is expected to be sentenced on Nov 16.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.