Victim of Tinder predator Christopher Harkins ‘left penniless’

A mother-of-two says she was left broke after giving her savings to Tinder stalker Christopher Harkins in a fake investment scam.

The duo matched on the dating app in London in 2020. Caitlyn (not her real name) described how the con artist and rapist initially tried to persuade her to go on holiday with him; This was a regular ploy by Harkins, now 38.

When she said she couldn’t afford a vacation, he offered to “help” her by doubling the money he had through currency trading.

She is one of four women the BBC targeted in the capital, where Harkins fled after her crimes were exposed in Scotland.

He said: “Initially I thought he was such a gentleman. He was showing off about money.

“He was telling me that his business was doing very well and he was making a lot of money. He said he could help me raise money.”

Harkins used the fake name Christopher Telfer when speaking to Caitlyn, who had recently separated from the father of her two young children.

He sent her a total of £3,132. “This money was very valuable to me,” he said.

“I felt very vulnerable because of my situation, and he offered to invest my money and get more out of it. I was naive. He told me that no matter how much money I had, I could send it to him. He wanted to help me.”

When Caitlyn started asking for the money back, Harkins told her that her bank account had been frozen.

He insisted that he had to give him more to get back the initial investment.

Caitlyn said: “I was starting to get very nervous. I gave him all the money I had.

“I was very stressed and worried. He kept asking for more money but I didn’t have it. He kept saying I could get a bank loan and an overdraft.”

Caitlyn asked Harkins via text message to prove the investment wasn’t a scam. This suggestion seemed to trigger him.

“He got very angry. He said, ‘Don’t talk to me like that, you’ll regret talking to me like that.’

“I was very scared of him at that point. When I refused to send him more, he became very aggressive.”

At one point, Caitlyn’s situation at home became very difficult. “I was desperate,” he said.

“I said to him, ‘I’m begging, I’m having a really hard time, I’ve got two kids, I’m not working.’ I was saying, ‘Even if it’s £200, even if it’s £300, just a little bit,’ but he didn’t answer. He completely ignored me.”

Harkins blocked Caitlyn’s number. She says she’s too afraid to report him to the police. He didn’t get even a penny back.

“I felt so stupid afterwards,” he said.

“I couldn’t even tell anyone for a while. I was so ashamed. It was a nightmare. Only one of my friends knew. It was a very scary time in my life.”

This pattern of behavior was typical of Harkins, who, the BBC understands, targeted at least 30 women in a series of crimes spanning almost a decade. He used dating sites like Tinder to find new victims.

Harkins is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in Scotland for crimes against 10 women, including rape, assault, recording intimate videos without their consent and defrauding more than £214,000 from women he met online.

On her dating profile, Harkins presented herself as a socialite, business-owning “gym rat,” but in reality she was a prolific and predatory hustler.

His scams included pretending to book romantic holidays and asking for money for his business because his bank account was frozen.

On other occasions he pressured women to take out loans of up to £12,000 to give to him. He also used their identities to get a loan. One woman was driven to bankruptcy, while others spent years trying to pay off debts and suffered mental health problems as a result.

Many of the women Harkin targeted were too embarrassed to tell their families and friends about their ordeals.

After being exposed in a newspaper and arrested in Scotland in early 2020, Harkins fled to London and began using a false name.

The BBC understands Harkins has spent time in London throughout his life because his father lived there.

Harkins continued his scams in England despite the legal threat placed on him.

He was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court in January 2023 for a separate fraud after defrauding £16,700 from another woman.

The BBC’s investigation also uncovered further fraud allegations by Harkins worth around £70,000. The BBC wrote to Harkins in prison to ask about these allegations. He didn’t answer.

Caitlyn learned of Harkins’ other crimes after reading a BBC article in January. It was an emotional moment when she realized for the first time that she was also targeting other women.

He added: “I shared this with my group of friends and eventually told them what was going on.

“I decided to report him to the police.”

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can find support details at: BBC Action Line.