Woman reveals how the ‘Scottish Tinder Swindler’ conned her out of thousands by staging a romantic getaway before he was convicted of rape and physical abuse

A victim of a romance fraudster has come forward and revealed her horrifying experience with the convicted rapist and predator in a new documentary.

Shannon, based in Scotland, explained how Christopher Harkins, who was jailed for 12 years in July last year after he was convicted of 19 offences, including rape, assault, and physical abuse, conned her out of £3,247.

She met Christopher, who has been dubbed the ‘Scottish Tinder Swindler’, via the dating app and they quickly hit it off, with Shannon explaining how she was in ‘disbelief’ at the seemingly perfect relationship that was forming.

It was then that they decided to book a holiday together, but after going through with the plan, things quickly took a sinister turn for Shannon, whose name has been changed for the documentary.

Speaking in Prime Video’s upcoming programme, Catching the Tinder Predator, Shannon explained, ‘After the holiday was booked, I felt really excited, and in disbelief a little bit.

‘I understand that this isn’t something that everybody would do. I get that this is a spontaneous move.

‘Some people would say crazy given that we had known each other for a period of weeks, but we both were young, free, single, and had the financial means to do it, and there was an element of being sort of caught up in it.’

Shannon explained that, from the outset, there was an understanding that she would pay her own way for the holiday. ‘There was real understanding from both parties at the very early stages that I would pay my way, and then things started to change,’ she said.

After she sent the money to his account, Christopher responded, telling her that the flights had sold out for the day they had originally planned and that they would have to go earlier and book an extra day of accommodation, which added a further £530 to the original cost.

Shannon, who joked to him that she would have to ‘eat beans for a month’, agreed and sent over the extra cash for the romantic getaway.

She said: ‘The holiday was £3,247, which I did transfer him, but then, from the night that it was booked, I started to think something’s not quite right here.’

‘He started tailing off messages, a real lack of him being proactive in his messaging, and at that point, I started to feel a little bit nervous,’ she said.

‘So, I actually phoned him, the line was dead, it wasn’t connecting. I can’t even describe it, I felt so sick, I just felt sick.’

Shannon wasn’t the only woman to fall victim to Christopher and his cunning ways; five others came forward in the documentary, which airs on the streaming service on Sunday.

Christopher preyed on women via dating apps for over a decade before subjecting them to financial, physical, and sexual abuse, until a brave group of women exposed his shocking behaviour.

The predator at first appeared to be the perfect gentleman, but after winning individuals over, he often left them fearing for their lives.

Despite numerous reports to the police, it wasn’t until one brave woman sought the help of journalist Catriona Stewart in 2019 that Christopher’s devastating actions came to light.

Christopher was jailed for 12 years in July last year after he was convicted of 19 offences including rape, assault and physical abuse.

He also admitted conning nine women out of more than £200,000, having targeted his victims using the likes of Tinder and Facebook.

A BBC documentary, which aired in January, revealed that between 2012 and 2019 nine women separately came forward to report the predator to police.

They say their claims – which included Harkins recording images and video without their consent, abusive and threatening behaviour and stealing tens of thousands of pounds – were ‘dismissed’ as civil matters.

Harkins typically targeted successful, career-driven women in and around Glasgow and lured his victims by presenting himself as a dream date, his profile describing him as a jet-setting, business-owning ‘gym rat’.

But after gaining their trust, he quickly began his scamming crusade. He stole some of the women’s identities to take out loans, pretended his bank account had been frozen and told his victims he needed money for his business and tapped cash to book non-existent holidays.

One woman was forced into bankruptcy while others spent years paying off debts, with many too ashamed to tell family and friends. 

But one victim told BBC Disclosure: Matched with a Predator: ‘The sheer number of people that came forward, I think it’s clear that there were opportunities to investigate. That makes me feel quite sad actually that there were so many opportunities to stop him.’

After her report was dismissed by police, she decided to go to the press determined to expose him.

Hours after journalist Catriona Stewart’s article appeared in Glasgow Evening Times, five other women contacted her recalling their ordeals with Harkins.

It was only then that Police Scotland decided to revisit the historical reports, which led to him being convicted after a two-week trial at the High Court in Paisley in May last year before the sentencing later on in the summer.

Another woman, who met Harkins online in late 2018, said he recorded intimate videos without her consent before suggesting he would send them to her parents.

She also described an incident when Harkins raped her, while another told how she feared she was ‘going to be one of those women who is killed by their boyfriend’ after he grabbed her by the throat.

The documentary heard from a further nine victims who were not involved in his trial last year and revealed alleged frauds totalling another £53,000 that have not been prosecuted.

Viewers also learned that Harkins served a prison sentence in 2022 for continuing to scam women in London while awaiting trial in Scotland.

Detective Chief Inspector Lyndsay Laird, who led the Police Scotland investigation, was asked if the force would apologise to the victims who tried to report Harkins in the years before his arrest but she said that was a ‘very difficult question to answer’.

She added: ‘They’ve got a successful court result now, based on the investigation that was conducted.

‘It’s disappointing to find that people feel let down by the police. But I would say with everything that we’ve put in place since then, I would hope that that experience wouldn’t be replicated now.’

Catching the Tinder Predator is out on Prime Video on Sunday.