Fake 'sugar daddy' who tricked Irish girl and 40 others into sending explicit images jailed

Samuel Ward, from Newmarket, Suffolk, approached victims on social media and offered to send large amounts of money in exchange for intimate images, an investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has found.

The 27-year-old attempted to trick more than 40 women and girls into sending him sexual images and videos in exchange for hundreds of pounds.

One of the victims was based in Ireland, while seven were in the US and the remaining 33 were in the UK.

The investigation was launched after a 17-year-old girl in Florida informed US law enforcement that she had been contacted by two Instagram accounts in May 2020.

The users offered to pay her a “weekly allowance” of $500 (€467) if she complied with their request for intimate photos.

An additional message from one of the accounts read “well just to prove I have the funds”, followed by a doctored image of a bank account balance of £98,606.80 (€113,270).

The user remained anonymous and never transferred the teenager any money.

US law enforcement passed this information to the NCA, which identified Ward as the person controlling both accounts.

He approached multiple victims at a time on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Tinder between 2019 to 2021, although many rejected his ‘sugar daddy’ proposals.

However, officers identified 18 victims of his scam in total, including four aged under 18.

One victim, aged 17 and known to Ward, reported to police that he had coerced her into sending a total of 57 indecent images between November 2019 and March 2020.

Ward dismissed her reluctance to send intimate photos by telling her “I have needs” and “if u loved me u would have made some kind of effort”, according to chat logs obtained by investigators.

In one instance, he offered the teenager £10,000 for ten photos. After she complied, the girl asked him for the money and he sent her £1 to prove he would pay her, but never sent her the promised balance.

Another 23-year-old victim was offered £3,000 by Ward in return for what he described as “non-explicit” images.

He mocked up an image of a transaction receipt which showed that he had transferred £3,000 from his account to hers.

Following this, she began sending Ward the images and videos he requested, but after checking her bank statement, she discovered that Ward had only sent £3.

When she confronted him about the payment, he replied, “3? I didn’t send 3, I sent £3,000”.

Following his arrest, NCA investigators reviewed Ward’s bank statements, which showed he was in overdraft for the duration of his two-year offending period and confirmed he had made the £3 and £1 payments.

Ward pleaded guilty to 19 charges in April 2023 including fraud, possession of an article for use in fraud, making indecent images of children and malicious communication.

He appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday, 13 November, and a judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison and handed him a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Adam Priestley, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “Ward relentlessly targeted teenage girls and young women online with promises of payments he never intended on sending, nor had the means to do so.

“I would like to commend the victims who assisted our enquiries, including the 17-year-old from the U.S. who first reported Ward’s offending to the police. Her brave actions led to an international investigation that has seen Ward brought to justice, and identified many more victims of his abuse.

“At the NCA we are committed to catching offenders who pose a threat to vulnerable people in the UK, and this investigation shows how we work with partners around the world to tackle serious online criminality.

“We urge anyone who has been pressured or deceived into sending sexual images online to report it to the police. You are not alone, and there is always help available.”