A 68-year-old man is facing charges of “surprise rape” after allegedly using a fake online profile photo of a model to lure women into a 50 Shades of Grey-style sexual scenario.

The Mirror reported that police in Nice arrested a man after a complaint from a woman named Sylvie who said she had agreed to have sex with the man in a darkened room while wearing a blindfold, only to get the shock of her life when she turned the light on afterwards.

“He was a balding man of about 65, who was quite wrinkly and wore glasses — I was absolutely disgusted,” the Mirror quoted her as saying.

Police had received three similar complaints from other women who believed they had been duped into a blindfolded sexual encounter with a handsome young blond man, only to discover the truth.

The man behind the scam, who used the name Anthony LaRoche (his real name was not provided) had allegedly propositioned 342 women across France, using an image of a model from an American fashion brand advertising campaign.

His lawyer disputed that the encounters were rape.

“He never forced any of his alleged victims into sex and the photo he used of the model was clearly too good to be true,” the lawyer told Le Parisien.

“If he had been asked if he really was the person in the picture, then he would have told to the truth. I wonder if these women didn’t knowingly close their eyes to the truth in more ways than one.”