Tinder Fraudster Jailed After Conning Dates Out Of £450,000

A woman who conned men she met on Tinder out of nearly AUD $800,000 (£450,000 / US $570,000) for a make-believe blueberry farm has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Instead, Jocelyn Zakhour was splashing the loaned cash in casinos.

9News

The 41-year-old, who was living at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, cried in Victoria's County Court as she was jailed for a maximum of four-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of two years and eight months.

The court was told how Zakhour met two of her victims on Tinder before blackmailing and extorting the money from them.

The first victim parted with AUD $723,700 (£400,000 / US $516,000) after he was promised a 300 percent return for his investment in the fake blueberry farm.

To convince him she would pay back the money she gave him a Rolex watch... which turned out to be as real as the farm was.

She then demanded more money and threatened to harm the man's family if he didn't pay up.

According to 9News, Zakhour sent 240 emails to him, while making threats against his ex-wife, children and mother in an attempt to swindle more money.

This led to him borrowing money because she had left him with nothing.

In one message she wrote: "Tell your ex-wife you will kill yourself if she doesn't give you the money."

9News

Her second victim was a financial planner who matched with Zakhour on Tinder and gave her AUD $61,000 (£34,000 / US $43,500) after she explained how she needed farming equipment and had to cover staff wages.

It was explained in court that the conwoman was doing all of this in an attempt to feed a gambling addiction, with a psychologist saying she had become hooked on power.

Zakhour pleaded guilty to six counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, three counts of blackmail and two counts of extortion with the threat to inflict injury.

It is believed that she has paid back a tenth of the money she swindled and has also wrote an apology letter as well as spending the past 18 months volunteering at a soup kitchen.

However, Zakhour is also reported to have blamed one of her victims for for being 'stupid enough' to believe the lies she told.

Speaking to police after her arrest, she said: "He knew what type of girl I was."

Topics: Australia News, News

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

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