A innocent couple were dragged out their car and wrongly accused of molesting young girls by 'paedophile hunters' who live streamed their actions on Facebook .
Thousands of people online watched Ben, 31, ad Jordan, 25, being confronted by the 15-strong mob in Hull who screamed at them: "We know what you've done."
The pair, who did not want their full names published, were visiting family when they were targeted by "Yorkshire Child Protectors", Hull Live reports.
To make matters worse Ben and Jordan were arrested and locked in a cell by Humberside Police for 22 hours before discovering the pair were completely innocent.
The video of Ben and Jordan was seen by 30,000 people and shared by other paedophile vigilante groups.
Ben says as a result, their "lives have been ruined" by the footage.
He said: "We are scared for our lives, they have absolutely ruined our lives.
"They've taken the video down but a lot of people have seen it and although we've been cleared, people have seen that video and might take it upon themselves to do something."
Ben said when they saw the gang approaching their car, they thought they were going to be victims of a theft - but the reality was happening was even worse.
He said: "I thought they were going to try and steal the car. They were saying, 'we know what you've done' and I tried to call the police and they took our phones off us.
"They were just flashing their phones at us and videoing it. They dragged Jordan out from the car. They took us a bit further down the road and put us in a corner out of the way.
"I was just scared and didn't know what was happening. I was hysterical and trying to remain calm but it was hard because they kept telling us to face what we had done."
The couple have since found out that it was alleged they had "molested girls" and the group thought they had been messaging a decoy pretending to be a young girl.
Ben said only Jordan's mum was informed that they had been arrested by police.
He said: "We had had our phones taken off us and whoever they thought we were, was still messaging the decoy account so it should've been clear then that it wasn't us.
"We were at the police station for 22 hours before the solicitor came and we were questioned. They didn't have any evidence because the hunters wouldn't give them any because they had been given the wrong people."
The group has since published an apology and retraction on its Facebook page, saying they were acting on intelligence given to them by another group.
In the statement, the group said: "We at YCP take responsibility for our part played in these innocent men being arrested but we won't be taking all the blame.
"We are heartbroken for these two men and I will personally be sending them a message with a sorry that we messed up on our part."
They said they had "no excuses" but said they had "no reason not to believe" that they were right to carry out the sting.
"We as a team won't be involved in drama but we do accept that we should have done more research on these innocent men," they said.
"We are truly sorry to the innocent men and again they will both receive a personal inbox from myself."
Ben and Jordan, however, believe the apology is not enough.
Humberside Police declined to comment on the arrests, but the force has previously warned against online vigilante groups carrying out stings and streaming videos online.
Superintendent Alan Farrow said: "There can be nothing more important than the ongoing protection of our children but this has to be spearheaded by the police and other law enforcement agencies."
