Robert Temple, the comedy hypnotist who went viral after breaking a 60 Year-Old Ban was arrested for fraud and hacking while he was on tour.
Robert Temple
Robert Temple shook things up in Bolton about a month ago by challenging their outdated ban on hypnosis, all to get his show, Red Raw, on stage at the Albert Halls.
After some serious persistence, he managed to convince the powers that be to ditch the old rule, making it a big win for comedy in Bolton.
Even local councillors admitted the ban was a bit old-fashioned. Temple, who once thought of himself as a “weird, shy kid,” has come a long way to become a top entertainer.
He’s all for hypnosis but says it’s gotta be done right, with proper training and safety measures in place. You can read more about our coverage on how he lifted the ban HERE.
However, it wasn’t because of his skills in hypnotism that made him commit these crimes, he was as some people call it, “leading a double life”.
Caught on Tour
Temple was set to perform for Burton-On-Trent today but the show and along with the other venues scheduled for a performance were all cancelled with venues only citing that they encountered “unforeseen circumstances”.
Though detectives believe he didn’t directly hypnotize his victims and wasn’t actually very good at computer, police think he had the ability to focus in on personal information which made working out their passwords easier basically a gift for social engineering.
Detectives also believe that other than the two women who came forward, Temple might have more victims that they have yet to discover.
The Charges
Temple admitted to hacking and selling private and intimate photos to an online forum that CPS discovered allowed users to make requests anonymously for explicit photographs of named women.
Temple also admitted to committing identity fraud to cover-up his online activities by setting up cryptocurrency accounts under a woman’s name without her knowledge.
A tactic he used in order to receive untraceable cryptocurrency as payment for the non-consensual pictures he sold online to this forum.
The Victims
Two women have come forward, one of which was just a mere Facebook mutual of Temple from her times in uni. Where she was suddenly contacted by a woman (Temple) who offered her some modelling work.
She turned down the offer but it didn’t take long for her private photos to be used to set up Snapchat, Instagram, and Tinder accounts in her name.
Friends of Ellie (The victim) found the fake profiles and while being understandably creeped out. It wasn’t until that detectives started contacting her about these accounts that she felt scared,
They asked if I was involved in crypto currency. But even though I’d done nothing wrong, for a moment I went into panic mode – I thought “Could I end up going to prison?” It was really scary. Then they realised my social media and my email had been hacked by Temple. It’s scary to think what else he’s done with my identity and my photos, all without my knowledge.’
Another woman was also found to be a victim of Temple where she found out that her nude photos were being leaked and being sold online.
Police Warning
Police urge the public that anyone who has been a target of Temple or any other Fraud scheme to urgently contact the Action Fraud Hotline and to set-up better passwords for accounts with a two-factor authentication.
Robert Temple is jailed for 8 months after being exposed. Annette Thomas, Senior Crown prosecutor gave a stern warning to any scammers,
Using insidious tactics, he exploited these unsuspecting women by hacking into their social media accounts and sharing intimate images of them online, without their knowledge, all for financial greed. Let this conviction be clear to those who hide behind a screen to commit their crimes, you cannot hide from the law and the Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work to achieve justice for victims of cybercrime.
This was certainly a wild turn of events after he made headlines last month. Check out our website for all the most recent news bits on ALL things comedy and if you’re looking for great comedy shows, step right in to Big Belly Comedy Club, guaranteed to make you laugh 7 nights a week!
