A fraudster who posed as a multimillionaire ex-special forces soldier and terminal cancer patient to con victims he met on the dating application Tinder out of £68,000 has been jailed.
Joseph Gibson, 35, from Ruthin in Denbighshire, Wales, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud relating to three women and one man. The offences took place between July 2020 and October 2021.
He was sentenced to three years and two months in prison last week at Bristol Crown Court, which handles serious criminal cases in south west England, after a judge refused his request to delay the hearing.
Speaking anonymously, Gibson's victims revealed how he spun a complex web of lies using elaborate tricks to convince them to hand over their life savings. They described him as funny, talkative and trustworthy when they first matched with him online.
Gibson claimed he had served in the Special Boat Service, the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. He also told victims he owned luxury yachts, showing them photographs of cars and homes he claimed to own, alongside fake trading portfolios.
He coaxed the victims into handing over their money under the promise that he could increase their wealth through investments.
Fake terminal diagnosis
To keep his victims trapped in the scam and avoid questions, Gibson claimed he was a cancer patient receiving hospital treatment. He caused further distress to the women by saying the illness could be terminal.
He used the cancer lie to avoid buying a yacht, and to stop one victim from asking what had happened to the money she had put into a stock.
To maintain the facade, Gibson sent his victims convincing selfies that appeared to show him wearing a facemask in a hospital bed.
"He would send me pictures in hospital and the background would look legit and I could hear women in the background," one victim said. In one instance, a victim recalled hearing nurses in the background of his calls.
Despite his claims of being a multimillionaire, Gibson even went as far as asking the women to lend him £20.
The women eventually began to notice holes in his story. In one instance, Gibson claimed to own a house in Bath, Somerset, but told a victim they could not visit because the boiler was broken.
"We couldn't go to his house. We never could," one woman said.
Financial ruin
On other occasions, his victims heard conflicting stories about his life from his friends. When they challenged him, Gibson ordered them to stop asking questions.
He even took a lie detector test to try and prove he was telling the truth.
One victim described how the deception began. "When you're being abused, whether it's financially or physically, they don't start off as a nasty person. They befriend you and they gain your trust. They're nice," she said.
The victims found themselves trapped in the scam, with one saying it was hard to know how to put an end to it.
In the end, they were left with very little money, which has had a lasting impact on their wellbeing. One victim said there were days when they did not eat after Gibson took all their earnings.
Another victim took out a loan so they could invest in the scam. To pay the money back, they had to take out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, a formal agreement with creditors to repay debts. As a result of the insolvency process, they cannot buy a house or own a credit card.
"The person that he met, it's like he killed her, because I will never be that person again," one of the women said tearfully.
Arrest and sentencing
Body-worn video footage captured the moment officers from the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force for Greater London, arrested Gibson.
During his sentencing hearing at Bristol Crown Court, Gibson appeared to be shaking throughout. The judge noted that he had been of previous good character and had admitted his offending, although he only did so shortly before his trial was due to begin.
The judge told the court that the defendant would get very little reduction in his sentence for his remorse, stating he was only sorry for the position he found himself in.
"Joseph Gibson, you are simply a fraudster. It has taken years for you to admit that," the judge said.
"Pity those who have had the misfortune to have you come into their lives, prey on their affections, steal their money, steal their goals and fracture their relationships."
The judge also accused Gibson of continuing his deception during the proceedings.
"You have tried to persuade this court that you have more money than you have," the judge said. "You have not shown evidence of that money to me. You have sought to deceive this court into believing that you had it."
Gibson will next appear in court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act in March. The legislation allows authorities to confiscate money and assets gained by offenders to repay their victims.
