Men jailed for four years over Grindr blackmail
Two men have been jailed for four years each, after using Grindr to blackmail gay men into paying large sums of money.
Nathanael Foster, of Gloucester, and Adam Webb of Quedgeley, both 26, pleaded guilty two counts of blackmail, according to the Gloucester Citizen.
Gloucester Crown Court heard that the pair posed as young boys on the hookup app, in order to entrap and demand money from other users.
Victims were told to pay vast sums of money to avoid details of encounters being leaked, with one man handing over £15,000 to the pair.
The men claimed they were trying to be “good citizens wishing to expose criminal behaviour” by exposing men with an interest in underage sex.
Prosecutors said: “These two men came up with a nasty scheme to extort money.
“They were motivated by greed and prejudice.
“Their scheme struck terror into the hearts of their victims.”
Sentencing the men, Judge Jamie Tabor said: “Blackmail is always a mean and despicable offence.
“The hypocrisy with which you committed these offences is breathtaking.
“You said you started off as good citizens but when you discovered your second victim had no money you told him to carry out a ram raid to get it.
“In the other case to all intents and purposes you falsely imprisoned your victim in his own home for ten hours until he could get the money.
“He was forced to liquidate his ISA and he was left frightened and humiliated as well as £15,000 worse off.”
