The 18-year-old male pretended to be a female to deceive the male victim, also 18, into believing that they were in a romantic relationship.
Both the accused and the victim, who were around 16 at the time of the offences, cannot be named due to a gag order protecting their identities. The gag order also covers the nature of their relationship.
The teenager earlier pleaded guilty to a charge each of cheating and extortion, with two counts of a similar nature considered.
Intending to pull a prank at first, he created an Instagram account in February 2023 that supposedly belonged to a female and used it to contact the victim. He downloaded inappropriate photos of girls from the internet to make the fake profile more convincing.
He also engaged the victim in conversations about sexual fantasies, misleading him into believing that he was in a romantic relationship with the female. The two had video calls, during which the accused kept his camera turned off, while the victim showed his face.
