A stage hypnotist has been sentenced to eight months in prison for stealing a woman’s identity and illegally downloading and selling nudes of two other women he hacked on social media.
Robert Temple, a U.K. comedian known for his hypnotism shows, was convicted in a British courtroom of three counts of fraud, two counts of hacking, and one count of concealment of criminal property.
He admitted on Monday that he hacked into the Snapchat accounts of two women to download their nude and topless photos, which he then sold for cryptocurrency.
“This man was operating on an online forum to target women, in which he would receive a specific request and hack social media accounts in order to obtain personal and explicit photos in exchange for cryptocurrency,” police detective Jonathan Naylor said.
Temple also stole the identity of another woman to shroud his illicit dealings, police said. He set up multiple crypto accounts and a social media account under Ellie Norman’s name to solicit racy photos from women who might want to profit off them.
The real Ellie Norman told multiple U.K. media outlets that she realized she had been targeted when police detectives contacted her, asking if she was involved with crypto.
“I wouldn’t have a clue where to start. But even though I’d done nothing wrong, for a moment I went into panic mode—I thought ‘Could I end up going to prison?’ It was really scary,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Then they realized my social media and my email had been hacked by Temple. It’s scary to think what else he’s done with my identity and my photos, all without my knowledge.”
Norman told The Guardian that Temple had also contacted her using yet another woman’s name, Emma Collins.
“Basically Robert Temple had created a fake Facebook profile under the name Emma Collins. He used it to lure women into joining a ‘modeling agency’ and would ask them to send [explicit] pictures and videos,” Norman explained.
She didn’t send him any of her photos, but was shocked to find that she had been talking to a man the whole time.
“She seemed really nice, just like she genuinely wanted to help you, so I was thrown back a little bit that ended up being a man.”
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
