Stock photo. (Envato)
A gay couple who were being blackmailed after a hookup were attacked with tear gas in their home by four masked men.
The couple, who have not been publicly identified, live in Épinay-sur-Seine, near Paris, France.
They had used a dating app to meet a 19-year-old man, who entered a sexual relationship with them, according to law enforcement documents.
The 19-year-old then claimed to have contracted a sexually transmitted disease from the gay couple and demanded money.
The couple, who are married, gave the man sums of up €4,000, local media reports.
It’s unclear what the gay couple were afraid of – they were legally married, so it’s unlikely that it was fear of being outed as gay.
Local media also reports that the man had no proof of either having an STI or having got an STI from the couple.
In the same week that the 19-year-old began extorting them, the gay couple answered a knock at their door in the middle of the night to find four hooded and gloved men standing outside.
The masked men sprayed the gay couple with tear gas, and then said that they were there on behalf of the 19-year-old man.
They asked for more money, which the couple refused to give them. It’s not clear whether they entered the gay couple’s house at any point, but after their demand for money was refused the four masked men then left.
After this, the gay couple were frightened enough to go to the police – a step they hadn’t taken before, despite being thousands of euros out of pocket.
The couple reported the incidents to the police. The police have said that the 19-year-old blackmailer wasn’t at home when they looked for him and that they haven’t been able to identify or find the four masked men..