Man pretended to be lesbian online using stolen Facebook photos

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A man has been found guilty for posing as a lesbian online, in a bid to meet up with women.

Luke Potter, a 20-year-old from Hanley, Staffordshire, admitted breaching his order by creating fake dating profiles posing as two different women after taking images from their Facebook profiles.

He then proceeded to chat to women and try to meet up with them.

Potter committed these offences when he was still on the Sex Offenders’ Register for attempting to meet an underage girl he had groomed.

This week he received a three-year community order with supervision, and has to complete the Sexual Offender Work Programme as well as do 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £60.

Laura Higgins, Helpline Manager of the UK Safer Internet Centre, told PinkNews: “Although this case is particularly unusual, unfortunately we have dealt with cases like this before.

“It’s the fact that anyone can be anyone on the internet as it’s so easy to set up a fake profile, and some people try to experience a different life online.

“If you fall in love and bare your soul to them, you will end up believing they are who they say they are.

“Our advice is if you feel like someone is trying to get something from you or is displaying fraudulent behaviour, report it to the police.”

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