A 29-year-old OnlyFans content creator narrowly avoided going to jail after being convicted of blackmailing a married man by threatening to expose his alleged infidelity to his wife if he didn’t pay her hundreds of pounds.
The woman, Bethan Guy, demanded money from one of her subscribers in exchange for not divulging their saucy interactions on the adult website.
Highlights
- Model Bethan Guy avoids jail after blackmailing married OnlyFans subscriber.
- Victim paid £450, fearing for marriage, then contacted police as demands grew.
- Guy sentenced to a two-year suspension, community service, and rehabilitation.
- Cybersecurity expert advises against sharing intimate content online.
Fearing for his marriage, the victim made an initial deposit of 450 pounds ($582) to the model's account but decided to contact the police after she demanded even more.
Guy was sentenced to a two-year suspension on October 15, with jail time guaranteed if she committed further offenses, along with 225 hours of community service, 12 mental health treatment sessions, and 15 rehabilitation days under probation.
An OnlyFans model who blackmailed a married man by threatening to share their private messages narrowly escaped a 14-year prison sentence
Image credits: wiltshire999s
Bethan Guy was first arrested in 2023 and pleaded guilty to blackmail charges in December of that same year, with the crime resulting in a potential sentence of 14 years in prison.
Judge Jason Taylor delayed her sentencing for six months in February, stating that Guy must quit her job as an adult model, close her OnlyFans account, and not commit any further offenses during that time. Despite this, she continued to upload content to the platform.
Image credits: Bethan Guy
Guy was ordered to repay the victim the 450 pounds she had extorted from him, but with a lenient payment plan of 50 pounds per month.
In court, the victim explained that he felt trapped and desperate, fearing he would lose his family and life if he didn’t comply with the model’s threats. “I felt like I had no option but to pay, as she was clear in her threats, and I was terrified of the consequences,” he said.
Her sentence comes in the wake of a warning from the FBI about an “explosion” in the number of cyber extortion crimes in recent years
Image credits: Sanket Mishra / Pexels
For the FBI, this phenomenon has an explicit name: “sextortion.”
Due to the dramatic increase in cases in recent years, the organization was forced to release a public safety alert in December 2022, warning people of an “explosion” in online financial extortion schemes of a sexual nature.
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels
The phenomenon affects everyone, but criminals have been known to target teenage boys and children, with criminal gangs posing as attractive women, initiating intimate conversations with their victims in hopes of gaining compromising information to blackmail them with.
“Sextortion cases involved at least 12,600 victims—primarily boys—and led to at least 20 self-harm incidents,” the FBI stated on January 23 of this year.
Image credits: Bethan Guy
“It’s paramount that people avoid sharing intimate messages, images, or videos on social media at all costs,” explained Sebastián Ávila, CSIRT chief and cybersecurity expert at a private firm known to Bored Panda. “We also recommend that people cover their computer and phone cameras when not in use.”
Ávila specifically spoke about the dangers of OnlyFans and similar platforms, where sharing delicate information and images is commonplace. “These platforms are relatively recent, which opens new opportunities for people to become vulnerable,” he added.
Image credits: Bethan Guy
In the lead-up to her sentence, Guy made a post on her Instagram page apologizing for her actions. “If I could go back, I would. It was a small mistake that has now brought me immense pain and regret.”