Roll on Friday are back from Hols and that’s a good thing !
A woman who blackmailed men she met on an adult website was a law firm receptionist, RollOnFriday can reveal.
During her trial earlier this year, Colchester Crown Court heard that Monika Konopska contacted two men she found on the prostitution website adultwork.com in order to extort them.
Konopska joined the Colchester office of listed law firm Knights in June 2024, where she was employed as an ‘office host’ at the firm handling reception and admin duties, according to her LinkedIn profile and a former colleague who spoke to ROF on condition of anonymity.
Posing as a woman called ‘Serena’, Konopska initially requested £40 in petrol money from her first victim, a single man, and told him she was working on behalf of “Romanians”.
Konopska texted the victim photos of his two adult children taken from his Facebook account and demanded a further £1,000, threatening to “cause a scene” if she was not paid.
Although he sent her the money, a few weeks later she sent him a photo of his street and said she was there and had “spoken with neighbours”.
A few minutes later she banged on his door and, while he hid upstairs, pushed a note through his letterbox demanding another £1,000.
She struck again posing as ‘Bianca’, messaging him that ‘Serena’ had been “too soft”.
“I can do serious damage in your life and destroy your reputation”, she said.
After extracting a total of £2,300 from the man, Konopska moved on to a new target.
Her second victim ignored her first threat, and when she messaged him asking if he was “looking forward to consequences” he reported her to the police.
Officers were able to identify Konopska without much difficulty as she had thoughtfully provided both victims with bank details bearing her real name. She had also been recorded on the first victim’s doorbell delivering her blackmail note:
Caught on camera.
Konopska told police her messages had been part of a “roleplay”, but she later admitted to blackmail and attempted blackmail and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Her LinkedIn profile indicated that she left Knights before her trial and was “looking for a new role”.
She posted that “My approach blends confidence with warmth, because great service isn’t just about how you speak or dress — it’s about how you make people feel”. A sentiment no doubt shared by her blackmail targets.
Konopska did not respond to a request for £300 to drop this story comment, other than by deleting her LinkedIn profile, while the SRA said it could not comment on individual cases. Knights did not respond to repeated requests to clarify whether it knew about any of this, even when ROF popped round with a threatening note.
