A woman who stole photos of babies online, and copied them to her Instagram account, has been banned from social media for two years.
Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard how 21-year-old Kati Ringer, from Norwich, pretended not only that the babies were hers but that they were also sick or had died.
She then used the ruse to extort money from sympathetic social media users, as part of ‘fundraising campaigns’.
Ringer is said to have targeted two women in particular, copying photos from their profiles and passing them off as her own.
When the unidentified women challenged Ringer and demanded for her to take the photos down, she became aggressive and made threats against their children.
In the case of one of the women, legal rep Jane Walker explained “She [Ringer] said she had taken the victim’s photographs. She didn’t think there was anything she could do, the police wouldn’t touch her, and she had two Facebook accounts – her spying one, and one with all the pictures.”
Ringer’s actions were reported to the West Midlands and Leicestershire Police forces, who launched an investigation. They managed to trace Ringer’s IP address to a computer at her mother’s home, and she was promptly arrested.
Ringer pleaded guilty to two malicious communications offences this week, and was given a suspended jail sentence of 30 weeks, suspended for two years.
She was also given a two-year criminal behaviour order, which bans her from using social media accounts, passing another person’s photo off as her own, or asking a third party for a donation unless it’s a legitimate request for a registered charity.
Ringer was assured that she would face prison time if she breached the order.
The 21-year-old has also been ordered to pay a £255 fine.
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