A gang lured a celebrity Belgian barber to London with a honey trap and threatened him with a machete, mistakenly believing he had £500,000 in cryptocurrency (that’s what he told the girl who was chatting him up as part of the honey trap, you see).

It turns out Quentin Cepeljac, who is known for cutting professional footballers’ hair, had only £6.71 in his crypto accounts – leading one of the gang members to exclaim: ‘Are you kidding me?’

After realising he only had a few quid in crypto, the gang forced him to give them £2,000 out of his current account and hand over £300 cash. They also took his Cartier glasses and Louis Vuitton wallet.

The gang members held Quentin captive at an Airbnb in west London for 9 hours, during which one of the gang had to go home early because he was wearing a tag and had to be home to meet his 8pm curfew.

Those involved in the robbery, Adlan Haji, 28, Alexander Khalil, 30, and Omar Sharif, 24 and Belgian Davina Raaymakers, 20, pleaded guilty to blackmail and will all face custodial sentences.

Davina, 20, spent a number of months messaging Quentin on TikTok, before inviting him to stay with her in London for the weekend.

When he turned up at the Airbnb in Shepherd’s Bush that he believed was her home, he was met by Haji, Khalil and Sharif, who beat him up and demanded the £500,000 from his crypto account that he had boasted/lied to Davina about.

Quentin was held in an en-suite bathroom where he had a large machete held to his throat, a large knife held to his leg, and was repeatedly punched, kicked and threatened with being stabbed.

After taking the cash from his current account and his wallet, the gang demanded he call a friend in Belgium to get more money. Well, the friend simply reported the call to the Belgian police, who alerted officers in the UK.

Eventually, the gang stuck Quentin in a taxi and sent him to St Pancras to take the Eurostar home. Police officers spotted him there, got talking to him, and he then led them to the deserted flat where the incident had taken place.

Thanks to CCTV footage, phone data and tracing who had booked the Airbnb, police eventually tracked down the culprits and arrested all four of them.

In a impact statement that was read to the court, Quentin said: ‘The incident was very traumatic. At the time I just wanted to get home back to Belgium. It was only after I got home when I realised what had happened.

‘I was intimidated with large knifes, and I was kicked and shoved. I only had bruises on my body, but it impacted me mentally.

‘In December 2024, I was recommended by my doctor to seek psychiatric help. I have had flashbacks.

‘The men who threatened me said they knew where I lived back in Belgium. I am now very nervous when i answer the front door. My parents are also weary… They have been supportive, but are also shaken by what happened.

‘I am very nervous when coming off the Eurostar in London. I have considered never coming back to London.’

The foursome will be sentenced on September 5, where you have to think they’ll receive pretty lengthy sentences. What a dopey bunch of crooks to actually think they would get away with this? Not to mention how they were counting on this guy having £500,000 in crypto just based off the fact he mentioned it to a girl he was trying to impress on TikTok.

Next time, maybe she could ask him for proof before arranging to rob him in a flat in London? Although I suppose that might’ve given the game away just a tad. Oh well, off to jail they go.

For the 85-year-old man who was honeytrapped after arranging a threesome with 18 year old twins, click HERE. How did he think that was going to end?