A SNAPCHAT fraudster lured her victim to swap nude pictures before blackmailing him out of £28,00 to stop her from sharing them.
Lauren Dowling, 24, shared explicit pictures on Snapchat with the victim over a virtual romance.
She then dumped him before demanding money from his family inheritance to stop her from sending the nude images to his loved ones.
The victim gave Dowling his inheritance, borrowed from friends and even took out a payday loan to buy her silence – totaling more than £28,000 over nine months.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards said the pair met on Snapchat in May 2018 to exchange explicit images but they never met in person.
Dowling broke the relationship off and claimed she was seeing someone else – and then invented a fake new boyfriend named Liam.
Mr Edwards said: “She sent a message to the victim pretending to be from Liam.
“Liam demanded £10 and threatened to send the explicit picture of the victim to his family and share it with his friends on social media if he did not send the money.”
Mr Edwards said the victim was “extremely frightened” and transferred £10 to the defendant’s bank account.
He said: “It encouraged her to make regular and repeated demands for money.”
Between July 2018 and April 2019 the terrified victim kept sending money in amounts ranging from £10 to £1,250.
He ended up sending a total of £28,138.
Mr Edwards said: “The toll on the complainant eventually became too much for him to bear and he had no money left.”
Cardiff Crown Court heard he borrowed from family and friends and even used £20,000 inheritance.
The court heard he and his new partner could not afford to buy a house.
Laurence Jones, defending, said she was “immature”, had been addicted to cocaine and had a drugs debt.
Mr Jones said she accepted it was “emotionally cruel” – but is now drug-free.
Dowling, of Caerphilly, admitted blackmail.
She was jailed for two years and eight months at the Friday hearing.
Judge Richard Twomlow said: “Your offence was callous and calculated over a nine-month period, leaving your victim in severe and significant debt.”
