An Australian catfish who pretended to be Home and Away actor Lincoln Lewis in order to stalk multiple women has been jailed.

Lydia Abdelmalek, 29, spent four years running fake Facebook profiles, which she used to con her victims into believing they were in romantic relationships with the soap-star.

One victim, who knew Lewis from her childhood, took her own life in October 2018.

She had endured years of cyber abuse and threats at the hands of Abdelmalek, including intimate photographs of herself being shared with her family.

In 2016, she wrote a statement that described the trauma she’d experiencing, stating Abdelmalek ‘cruelly robbed me of three years of my life in exchange for gaining some perverse pleasure’.

She said: ‘I have been traumatised beyond belief, pounded with relentless abuse over a long period of time.

‘The sheer extent and intensity of the stalking over three years… has had a devastating and lasting effect on my life.’

She added that she had contemplated suicide but did not want to become ‘another statistic’. She died two years later.

The victim, who had spoken to the catfish on the phone and Skype, realised she was being duped when a mutual friend told her it was not Lewis’ real profile.

But Abdelmalek manipulated her into thinking she was another man and used photos of Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac.

During the three years the woman unknowingly spoke to Abdelmalek, she was bombarded with abusive messages, including threats to publish her explicit images or harm her niece.

Abdelmalek, from Melbourne, was found guilty of six counts of stalking after harassing the woman, her family and other victims for four years from May 2011.

She was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison

The victim’s sister said justice had arrived too late, stating the sentence ‘will never mitigate the life sentence my family have been served… a life without my beautiful sister in it’.

In court, another victim described how the catfishing had turned her from the life of the party to a ‘recluse’.

She said: ‘I feel like I’m unworthy. I’m ashamed of myself and I blame my own stupidity’ and added that pictures of Lewis now trigger her post-traumatic stress disorder.

The court also heard how Abdelmalek was able to repeatedly get one victim’s contact information through telecommunications company Optus.

She knew the answers to three basic security questions, giving the woman’s name, date of birth and phone number, before asking for her new number each time.

On one occasion she was even able to access the woman’s account, discovering her new address as well.

Abdelmalek’s catfishing was finally stopped when the same victim, who had also met the real Lewis in real life, became suspicious of who she was talking to.

With the help of Queensland Police, she convinced the fake profile to send her money and the transaction was then traced.

CCTV cameras filmed Abdelmalek depositing the money into the victim’s account through a bank branch.

Lewis, who was informed of the catfishing by police, said: ‘Having your number, address, personal details illegally obtained and photos doctored was scary.

‘Having them used to catfish people is sickening. But nothing can give back or make right what this sick person did and took away from the victims.

Got a story for Metro.co.uk?

If you have a story for our news team, email us at [email protected].

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: Read Full Article