Callum Jones
A woman who dated a notorious Tinder swindler who sexually abused some of his victims has explained some of the 'red flags' she noticed in their relationship.
Christopher Harkins used the popular dating app to speak to and meet women, before gaining their trust and conning them into sending him thousands of dollars.
He would portray himself as a successful businessman who had a lot of money, enjoyed nice holidays, and lived a lavish lifestyle.
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But he soon claimed to many of his victims that he had problems with his bank account and that it had been frozen. He would ask women to transfer money to another account and claimed he would send back what was owed soon after.
However, that was never actually the case.
A new Prime Video documentary, Catching The Tinder Predator, details Harkins' actions and introducers viewers to Jak Reid, 39, who was one of those to go on dates with Harkins. After matching with him on Tinder, she was immediately 'attracted' to him, while they also had a lot in common - meaning there was a lot to talk about.
The first date went extremely well, as Jak explained to UNILAD: "The first date we went to a comedy club, and then we went to the casino. At the time, I think the only thing that really stood out was that he was quite blasé with money. But some people are like that. There were no red flags on the first date."
The first red flag appeared when Jak went on another date with Harkins and she did the nice thing of paying the check while her date was using the toilet.
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"I paid the bill at the restaurant and he got a bit aggressive, that was my first huge red flag," Jak explained.
Jak explained in the Prime documentary that Harkins stormed out of the restaurant and got a taxi home, such his anger. Certainly not the response Jak expected from what was meant to be a kind gesture.
"I've never had any guy be in any form that aggressive with me. I was quite shocked at that, but I did continue to see him after he apologized," Jak added.
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The massive red flag that saw Jak end her relationship with Harkins happened when she was asked to transfer him some money.
She explained: "I was at work. It was a Sunday, and he sent me this random message and asked me to transfer money into a random bank account, which I now know was his step-dad's.
"He said it was for his friend who was taking a girl that he'd been seeing away for a romantic weekend, and that his bank account was frozen and that he'd give the cash later."
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Jak added: "Straight away I knew it was some kind of scam. I just didn't know the scale of it at the time."
Harkins pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January 2024 after conning nine women out of a combined total exceeding $287,000.
A court heard in a May 2024 trial that Harkins raped one former partner while she was sleeping.
The Tinder swindler was also convicted of filming two women in intimate situations without their consent before sending them the graphic content.
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He was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in July 2024.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org