Top boss hit by blackmail scam
CHIEF EXEC PAID £2K TO ONLINE FRAUDSTER WHO PRETENDED TO BE ATTRACTIVE WOMAN
A TOP boss was blackmailed after the attractive young woman called ‘Sienna’ he thought he had sent an intimate picture to turned out to be a weed-smoking fraudster.
The middle-aged chief executive told how his tormentor ‘seemed to take pleasure’ in the fact he was ‘ruining’ his life after he scammed him online.
But after jailing the conman, a judge criticised the victim for betraying his girlfriend and going on a ‘sugar daddy’ website to seek company elsewhere.
The man used the ‘Seeking Arrangement’ website - famed for connecting ‘sugar daddies’ to ‘sugar babies’ - to find ‘Sienna.’
The profile suggested he was flirting with a white, 23-year-old woman. ‘Sienna’ was in fact 25-year-old Siham Malik.
Malik sent his victim a sexually explicit picture of ‘Sienna’ before the man sent his own intimate image. A court heard the conversation ‘fizzled out’ and the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told ‘Sienna’ he wasn’t interested.
But prosecutor Maria Woodward described to Manchester Crown Court how their online chatter took a sinister turn.
Malik sent the man bank details and, posing as ‘Sienna,’ told his victim: “I think you should send me something for wasting my time.”
The victim replied saying ‘sorry’ before the fraudster told him ‘well, maybe I should show ***** our arrangement,’ naming his victim’s girlfriend.
Moments later, the shocked victim received pictures of some of his Facebook friends and a copy of his girlfriend’s social media page.
Malik then threatened to post the man’s inappropriate image on Facebook and tag all his friends.
“Is your relationship worth £500?” asked Malik. The court heard his victim quickly replied ‘yes.’ Malik is then said to have written: “That was easy. I think I will ask for more.”
The court heard the victim paid £600 into his blackmailer’s account. But his ordeal didn’t end there. He began to suspect his phone had been hacked when he saw its background picture change and the court heard he set about changing his security settings.
His tormentor then managed to find pictures of the man and friends from WhatsApp, posting them to his victim and demanding another £1,000.
The court heard he ‘begged to be left alone’ and in all paid £2,100 to Malik.
When the threats continued, and he could no longer afford further payments, the man contacted police.
Malik, from Blackley, was arrested on September 19 last year and officers seized two mobile phones. When he was interviewed, he denied committing any offences and claimed money paid into his bank account was from friends for the birth of his child.
Malik’s victim, in a statement to the police read out in court, said: “It’s been very scary, a terrifying week. “It’s caused me extreme worry over my relationship with my partner. “I believed it would ruin both my relationship with her and both our lives.
“The worst thing about the whole experience is how the defendant seemed to take pleasure in the fact he was ruining my life.”
The court heard Malik had 13 previous convictions to his name, mostly for theft, but that he had never been sent to prison before.
Katie Jones, defending, told the court her client had expressed remorse to the probation service, which officials believed was genuine. The father-of-two was said to have been a regular cannabis user over the past ten years.
Miss Jones told the court: “He felt over the whole of the time his new responsibility as a father and started using cannabis even more heavily. He acknowledges his use of cannabis played a very significant role in the crisis which led him to choosing to behave in this way.
“He apologises through me to the court for his involvement in this offence and his behaviour towards the victim in this case.”
The judge, Recorder Ciaran Rankin, criticised the ‘tissue of lies’ the defendant told police.
“This was a pre-meditated offence. It required some planning and effort on your part. You had made background enquiries,” the judge told him, jailing him for two years.
Malik, of Brynford Avenue in Blackley, admitted one charge of blackmail.
The defendant seemed to take pleasure in the fact he was ruining my life Siham Malik’s victim
The judge also said he was ‘sceptical’ about the victim’s suggestion he had worried his relationship with his partner would be ruined.
“Perhaps he needs to look in the mirror before he makes statements like that,” said the judge, who pointed out the victim had gone on to the internet to seek company elsewhere.