A scammer who posed as a multimillionaire and former elite special forces soldier and lied about having cancer to defraud his victims of £68,000 has been jailed.
35-year-old Joseph Gibson, from Penbryn Nant in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales, defrauded four people, three women and one man. The offences took place between July 2020 and October 2021. He met two of the victims through the Tinder dating app and convinced one of them that they were in a romantic relationship.
To gain his victims’ trust, Gibson claimed to have a fortune worth hundreds of millions of pounds. At one point, he claimed to be worth £440 million. He also said that he owned yachts and had served in Britain’s Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite unit of the Royal Navy.
His first victim was a businesswoman from Devon whom he met on Tinder. Over four months, she gave him more than £5,200. Gibson initially claimed that he would use the money to purchase stock for her retail business.
In August 2020, Gibson told the woman that he had cancer and sent her a photograph of himself in what appeared to be a hospital bed. His fraud left the victim with just 93p in her bank account.
Another woman he met on Tinder lost £10,000 after Gibson convinced her that he could invest the money and turn it into £150,000.
In 2021, he told her that he had cancer and urgently needed private medical treatment. The woman took out a £4,000 loan to help pay for it and was later forced to enter into an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) with her creditors to manage her debts.
Gibson also defrauded one of her relatives of more than £18,000. Another victim was a retired superyacht captain. Gibson told him that he had sold a weapons development programme to the US government and wanted to purchase a boat.
On Thursday, Bristol Crown Court sentenced Gibson to three years and two months in prison. He pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation.
“Joseph Gibson, you are simply a fraudster. It has taken you years to admit that.
Pity those who have had the misfortune of you entering their lives. You preyed on their affections, stole their money and their dreams, and destroyed their relationships,” Judge Jaron Crooknorth said.
Gibson told the court that he had £40,000 in savings. However, it later emerged that he actually had only around £15,000.
He asked for sentencing to be delayed so that he could compensate the victims for their losses by setting aside £5,000 each month. The judge refused his request and ordered that he be sent straight to prison.
Jenny Williams, the lead investigator for Avon and Somerset Police, said that Gibson was “a confident and manipulative man who developed an extensive web of lies for his own personal gain.”
“The impact of fraud on victims can often be profound and long-lasting, and those duped by Gibson have been left with significant debt, a loss of trust and the difficult task of rebuilding their lives,” she added.
