Melbourne‘s notorious ‘Tinder swindler’ is back behind bars after he was caught fleecing almost $350,000 from a woman he threatened to kill.
Christopher Alan Collins, 37, appeared on remand at the Melbourne County Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to charges including rolled-up offences of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
Collins, who has priors for ripping off several women he met via dating apps, menaced his victim into handing him large sums of money over several months.
He launched his criminal conduct against the woman on January 10 last year.
Collins told the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that he owed ‘debts to certain people’ but she was ‘required to make the payments’.
The fraudster’s ruse forced the woman into giving Collins $344,894 between January 10 and June 11 last year.
Collins, a gambler and former VFL footballer, funnelled most of the cash to various bank and betting accounts he held in his name.
Collins, who also pleaded guilty to a rolled-up charge of blackmail, coerced his victim with ‘unwarranted demands with menaces’ over an extended period between January 30 and June 4.
Christopher Alan Collins, 37, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including obtaining a financial advantage by deception
Collins has priors for ripping off victims he met via dating apps (stock image)
The prosecution said Collins blackmailed and menaced the woman with a ‘view to gain for himself’.
Collins also threatened to kill the woman in Avondale Heights, in Melbourne’s north-west, on June 2 last year.
Collins, who pleaded guilty to making a threat to kill, was previously sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in September 2022 for similar offending.
Collins was sentenced to a 22-month jail term with a minimum of 16 months after pleading guilty to 24 charges, including fraud and theft offences.
The serial swindler stole more than $100,000 from women he met on dating apps Tinder and Oasis between January 2020 and early 2021.
He was on bail in January 2020 for defrauding one victim of more than $90,000 when he met another woman on an app and stole her life savings.
Collins manipulated the women to gain access to their bank accounts, transferring their money and using it for online betting.
After meeting his victims, he would boast that he was a professional gambler and then convince them to open online betting accounts.
Collins is a former suburban cricketer and VFL footballer
Collins stole more than $100,000 from his victims after fraudulently accessing their bank accounts. He would then transfer the money across to sites including Sportsbet, TAB and bet365.
Collins encouraged one victim to put her money on a ‘sure bet’ and convinced her to open new betting accounts.
Then they went to a Richmond pub, where Collins sat in a dark corner with her phone after she went on to the dance floor.
Within 20 minutes, he had transferred $96,000 from her accounts and moved $72,000 into betting accounts.
After they went home together, he stole her credit card while she was sleeping and used it to pay for a taxi and then drinks at a strip club in Melbourne’s CBD.
When she confronted him, he manipulated her and threatened to send a damaging video of her if she went to police. He sent her messages pretending to be from his mother, told her she owed money to bikies and threatened suicide.
She became frightened, worried and confused.
Collins told another victim, who was emotionally shattered due to the financial impact of the crimes, that he had a friend in America who could help her get the money back. This never happened.
Sentencing Magistrate Cecily Hollingworth described Collins’ behaviour as brazen and cunning and said it showed his lack of respect for women.
Collins appealed his sentence to the County Court, where it was reduced to a minimum 13-month period until he could be eligible for parole.
Victim statements read at the November appeal highlighted the devastating impact Collins’ offending continues to have on two of the women.
‘I slept well before the world got turned upside down by Chris Collins,’ said a divorced mother of two, who had her life savings of $8,000 stolen.
‘This crime changed me beyond repair.’
Another woman, who met Collins on Tinder and had $96,000 stolen while she was on the dance floor during their date at a Richmond pub, said the offending still consumed her life.
‘Overall, this has been a very traumatic ordeal for me and I still feel like it has completely ruined me,’ she said, in a statement to court.
‘I often go to sleep at night not wanting to wake up and wish it would all go away.’
Collins, a former suburban cricketer for Little River, will be sentenced for his latest offending on September 18.
