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This article contains graphic details of sexual assault crimes. Reader discretion is advised.

Chinese national Lin Rongxin, 34, used multiple personas to run what prosecution called an elaborate "sextortion" scheme for his own sexual gratification, leading at least 20 young girls and women to fall victim to his ploy.

He targeted 14 to 19-year-olds, who were often from China but were studying in Singapore.

From 2018 to Jun. 29, 2019 -- the date of his arrest -- Lin would meet victims on apps such as WeChat and TanTan, posing as two different individuals, 19-year-old "Lin Zhi Xuan (LZX)" from Fujian province, and "Huang Yi (HY)".

He would use a photo of a young Chinese male as part of his LZX persona to avoid revealing his identity.

He would first get to know the victims as LZX, making them send him explicit pictures and videos and sometimes engage in masturbatory activities on camera.

Lin would then save or record the footage.

Using his LZX persona, he would them blackmail these victims to continue sending him obscene footage or money lest he uploads their nudes online.

In some instances, he would ask them to have sex with another man, HY, who, unbeknownst to the victims, was Lin himself.

Occasionally, he would use his LZX persona to threaten the victims, but also communicate with the victims using his HY persona, where he will attempt to gain the victim's trust by showing them care and concern.

When the victims confided in him that they were being extorted by LZX, Lin, posing as HY, will attempt to "help" the victim by claiming that he would send money to LZX in an attempt to "buy off" the explicit footage.

Touched at his supposed attempts to help, the victims would fall in love with HY, and engage in a romantic and sexual relationship with him.

The victims never suspected that LZX and HY were the same person.

He pleaded guilty to seven charges on Monday, Nov. 28, including rape, making anonymous threats and instigating a victim into making voyeuristic films.

Another 57 charges were taken into consideration.

Court documents stated that Lin was a Chinese national who worked in Singapore for 12 years as a machinery technician.

He lived in a dormitory with his wife and a three-year-old son.

Played 'angel' and 'devil'

One of his victims, named V1 in court documents, was 14 at the time.

She came to Singapore to study and stayed in a student dormitory.

Meeting LZX on the TanTan app, they entered into a relationship and started exchanging obscene photos and videos.

Lin recorded and saved the explicit footage, and started blackmailing V1 into sending him money.

At first, she borrowed 5,200 yuan (S$997) from a family member and sent it to Lin, but when the amount grew larger, she told him that she did not have any more money.

He told her that he knew someone that would be willing to "buy her virginity" for 10,000 yuan (S$1,918), and threatened her to have sex with said person lest he post her nudes online.

He gave her the contact details of said person, who, unbeknownst to her was Lin himself using his other alias, HY.

They met up at Braddell MRT in October 2018, and had sex in an industrial building in Toa Payoh.

At no point did V1 consent to performing sexual activities.

She had told him repeatedly to stop as it was painful but he did not.

Afterwards, he had asked her what her age was despite already knowing the answer.

When she answered that she was 14, he feigned shock, claiming that LZX had told him that she was 18.

She related her plight to him, and he assured her that he – as HY– would settle LZX's threats.

Later, V1 had messaged LZX asking if HY had paid him the 10,000 yuan, and he replied that he had received the money.

After the initial rape, Lin continued posing as HY to message V1, showing concern about LZX's threats.

He also mentioned that he had spent 260,000 yuan trying to purchase her nudes from LZX.

Touched at HY's attempts to help her, they soon formed a relationship.

They went on several dates and when he requested sex on other occasions, V1 agreed.

However, during intercourse, he did not use protection, and secretly filmed some of their sexual encounters.

During the whole ruse, V1 had never suspected that LZX and HY were the same person. Whilst her relationship with HY was ongoing, she continued to receive threats from LZX.

He had demanded access to her WeChat account.

Scrolling through her contacts, he identified friends of hers that he thought were attractive, and tasked V1 to secretly film them while they were naked or in the shower.

V1 complied as she was still fearful of her nudes being distributed, and installed cameras in their shared dormitory toilet.

She would then send the videos to LZX.

Once, she had filmed her friend showering, but had accidentally sent the video to that same friend instead of LZX.

This sent V1 into a panicked frenzy as the friend had called the police.

She quickly deleted the videos and told LZX what had transpired. He deleted the correspondence between them.

She also approached HY, telling him that she was scared and was suicidal.

HY told her to tell the police that the devices installed were for own viewing pleasure, and that she had not sent explicit videos to anyone.

Simultaneously, HY deleted all the obscene photos from their chat, and further instructed her to not reveal the existence of LZX to the police.

V1 did what she was told and lied to the police, but still felt confused, alarmed and lost.

She spent a night wandering around Braddell area to look for HY, but to no avail.

Her parents flew to Singapore after her arrest.

She recounted the whole story to her parents, and her father began to suspect that something was amiss.

A sting operation was set up and Lin was eventually arrested on Jun. 29, 2019.

In the aftermath of the ordeal, V1's mental health and grades deteriorated. She became reclusive, and suffered from insomnia despite seeking psychiatric treatment.

"Evil and disgusting": prosecution

CNA reported that deputy public prosecutors Chong Kee En and Colin Ng asked for at least 22 to 28 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

Chong said the scale of Lin's offences was "shocking", with the nature of his offending "truly quite evil and disgusting".

Lin was also suffering from sexually transmittable diseases (STDs), herpes and Hepatitis B, while he was having sex with five of the victims

Lin reportedly showed remorse at his actions, and cried while talking to his lawyers.

The lawyer asked for the lower end of the jail term asked for by the prosecution, and not exceeding 25 years, CNA reported.

His sentencing has been adjourned to December.

Top photo via Unsplash