STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A Swedish man who sent bills to thousands of people who visited a porn site and threatened to publish their names if they failed to pay was sentenced Monday to two and a half years’ jail for extortion.
Dennies Pettersson, 42, who had acquired the Swedish rights for streaming videos on a foreign website, sent bills to people he claimed had watched the clips, demanding payment ranging from tens to hundreds of euros.
For those who refused to pay, he raised the amount and threatened to call the police or publish their names on an online “porn blacklist” detailing which videos they had watched and then refused to pay for.
Pettersson admitted to 31 cases of aggravated extortion and to 526 cases of attempted extortion. The offences date to 2012 and 2013.
“The district court has determined that the plaintiffs were subjected to aggravated extortion in the cases where it is proven that they received a bill of this kind,” a district court in Malmo, southern Sweden, said in a statement.
Two accomplices were given suspended terms while another three were given prison sentences ranging from 12 to 18 months.
Pettersson told the regional daily Sydsvenskan in 2013 that he had earned millions of kronor (hundreds of thousands of euros, dollars) legally through the newerotica.mobi website from users who had agreed to the prices mentioned in its terms and conditions.
Although users never left their contact details on the site, he was able to trace them through a list of IP addresses he bought from Sweden’s largest internet service provider.