A WOMAN has revealed her "nightmare" ordeal after being conned out of over £50K on a first date with a 'Tinder Swindler'.

The unlucky dater told of the emotional, physical and mental torture she endured after ending up on a date with notorious fraudster Christopher Collins.

Collins stole huge sums of cash from women he duped on dating apps over a years-long conning crusade.

He will now spend 22 months in prison after pleading guilty on Friday to 24 charges including financial deception offences, fraud and theft.

One of the women he targeted has now shared the harrowing ordeal the Australian scammer put her through.

The woman said she first met Collins – who went by the name CJ – after matching with him on Tinder in January 2020.

The 33-year-old told her he was a professional gambler, and after bonding over a love of sports, she invited him over to watch cricket.

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But little did she know the con-artist was instead planning on adding her to the long list of women he defrauded after finding them on the dating app.

Collins convinced the woman to put money on a "sure bet", and encouraged her to open up new online betting accounts.

After moving their date to a local pub in Richmond, Australia, Collins got hold of her phone while she went to the dancefloor.

It took the fraudster less than 20 minutes to transfer over £56,000 from her bank accounts and move £42,000 into his betting accounts.

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Despite already draining the unwitting woman's bank accounts, Collins was not done yet.

After the two went home together, he stole her credit card while she was sleeping – using it to buy a taxi and drinks at a Melbourne strip club.

When she discovered his twisted actions, Collins manipulated her and threatened to send a damaging video of her if she went to the police.

She became frightened even further when the Tinder swindler began sending her intimidating messages, telling her she owed money to people as well as pretending to be his mother and threatening suicide.

She told AAP: “That confusion and sense of urgency, that’s not a scenario that I’ve ever been in, and you don’t know how you’ll deal with it.

"It was a nightmare.

“It’s had such a detrimental impact on me emotionally, mentally, physically, since it all occurred."

She has been unable to recover £26,000 of the stolen money, and has forked out nearly £9,000 on legal fees following the ordeal.

I’m a senior executive, I’m street savvy, no way did I ever think this would happen to me

While being sentenced on Friday for the egregious crimes, Collins remained silent as he appeared by video link from prison in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The court heard that when he began stealing from the woman in January 2020, he had recently finished an 18-month community work order after already being caught conning women he met online and gambling their money.

He stole more than $60,000 from three women he met online from January 2020 to January 2021.

Another woman who fell victim to Collins' conning crusade told the court she was forced to live off handouts for months after the offending.

She said she has lost all trust in men and has not dated anyone since she met Collins.

Magistrate Cecily Hollingworth described Collins’ behaviour as “brazen and cunning” and said it showed a complete lack of respect for women.

“You could have stopped, you could have desisted at any stage but you continued to defraud these women,” she said.

“You exploited women that you knew had limited means.”

Collins must spend 16 months in prison before he becomes eligible for parole. He has already served more than 10 months in pre-sentence detention.

He has paid back $10,000 to the court.

What is a Tinder Swindler?

'Tinder swindler' scamming became synonymous with infamous con-man Simon Leviev, who posed as a wealthy jetsetter to steal money from women on the dating app.

Real-name Shimon Hayut, the fraudster told his victims he was the son of Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Leviev – but he was no relation to the family whatsoever.

The Israeli con-man deceived and stole from women across Europe, constantly "travelling for work" and living lavishly on the cash conned from his previous victim.

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He became notorious after a Netflix documentary exposed his crimes.

He was sentenced to 15 months in prison but was freed after just five due to good behaviour – and now lives as a free-man in Israel.

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