Shannon immediately had a gut instinct that something was wrong, after she sent Tinder swindler Chris Harkins more than £3,000 for a romantic holiday – and later realised she’d been romance scammed
A Tinder swindler took thousands of pounds from one of his victims after promising a bogus holiday, before sending her a photo of “loads of cash” to rub it in.
Chris Harkins was jailed for 12 years last year after he “preyed on women looking for love”, and conned at least 13 people out of a combined £214,000. He portrayed himself as a successful businessman after meeting victims online, and even encouraged people to borrow significant amounts of money to fund his lifestyle.
Shannon McKechnie, 40, gave Harkins more than £3,000 so he could buy them both a dream holiday. But, after she handed over the funds, his phone number suddenly disconnected, and she couldn’t get back in touch with him.
Harkins reappeared in Shannon’s WhatsApp messages weeks later, sending her a photo of a bag full of cash, claiming he was going to give her the money back. But, he never turned up to their agreed meeting point, and the money never materialised.
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Six years later, Shannon wants to help all of Harkins’ victims recoup some of their lost money. She launched a GoFundMe campaign with the ultimate goal of returning some of the money that was “taken from them”, she said.
“It started back in 2019,” Shannon told the Mirror. “I started dating Chris Harkins, who was totally normal. He was young, same age as me. We lived in the same area and I knew people who knew him. He was attractive and worked as an engineer.
“There wasn’t really anything that was giving off red flags. He seemed to be very good at telling you what you want to eat and picking up on new shoes, etc. When you’re in a situation like that, it’s really difficult to see what’s happening when it’s happening.”
They were dating for a few weeks before the conversation turned to booking a holiday away, she said.
“We then started looking at places to go, and ultimately that resulted in me transferring him money for my share of the holiday.”
She immediately had a gut feeling that something was wrong, she added. “I genuinely just got an instinct. I was like ‘I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing here’. I tried to contact Chris just to ask some basic questions about the holiday, and the number that I had for him was disconnected… so that made me panic even more.”
Shannon immediately got in touch with her bank and the holiday destination Harkins claimed he’d booked. Both of them revealed there was no record of a booking ever being made.
At that point, the reality hit home that she’d likely been scammed. She thought she’d need to “play dumb” in order to make sure she got her money back.
“He scammed me; there was no holiday ever booked, and there’s no chance of going on a holiday. But at that point I thought: ‘Listen, the best chance of me getting my cash back here is to just play dumb, basically’.
Harkins did eventually get back in touch with Shannon, she said. She immediately told him she was worried he’d done a runner, and he was furious at the suggestion.
“Any time I asked for the money, he’d say ‘I could never take money from anybody’,” she said. “He then tried to get me to take out a £12,000 loan for him – which I obviously didn’t do. I just put stuff on the application that I knew would make the system decline me – I’ve worked in a bank before. I could send him the confirmation to at least say that I tried.”
The lust for money continued, and eventually Shannon thought there might be other victims, too. Then, Harkins started to realise the money had dried up and he wasn’t getting any more from her.
“The minute he knew that he couldn’t get any more money from me, he just completely changed,” said Shannon. “He went off the radar, and I never heard from him for months.”
About four to six weeks later, Harkins once again popped up in Shannon’s messages. It turned out to be a cruel ploy to rub salt in the wounds of his victim.
She said: “He just sent me a picture of loads of cash, saying that he would give me the money back and to meet him in a specific place. I obviously went there, probably knowing that he wouldn’t be there, but you know… I had to give it a shot. I arrived, he obviously wasn’t there.”
It was eventually revealed that Harkins had numerous victims across Scotland, and had been targetting women for about six years. He was later arrested, and pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January 2024.
It was also revealed during his sentencing that Shannon’s experience was very similar to a number of other women. Harkins, from Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute, would persuade them to transfer him money for holidays, sending them screenshots of dreamy destinations. He persuaded them to pay for half the cost, but never booked the trips away and failed to return the majority of the funds given to him.
At the time, he was described as a “violent and contemptable individual” by police. He preyed on women, and adding to his bank account was his only motivation, according to Police Scotland Detective Chief Inspector Lyndsay Laird.
She said: “Christopher Harkins is a violent and contemptable individual who preyed on woman looking for love and companionship. His only motive was money.
“Harkins met the woman through a dating app and once he had formed relationships with them he turned to manipulation, threats, coercive control and violence to obtain thousands of pounds which he used to fund his very lavish lifestyle. The fact that he was convicted is a tremendous credit to the women who came forward to police.”
Shannon did eventually manage to get her money back in full, but she admitted now feeling guilty because some victims weren’t as lucky. But, from the women who chose to come forward and give evidence, it’s believed Harkins stole about £214,000.
“I know it’s not my fault, but I do just feel like [the other victims] haven’t had justice,” said Shannon. “He did also take money from women who’d earned it fairly, who’d worked hard for it.”
She’s now hoping to raise some money to give back to victims, in hopes of finally putting the story to bed, once and for all. “I just thought maybe a really nice way to end this story is to help people get their money back, and to create new memories,” Shannon added. “It’s all about women empowering women.”
Six years on, and Shannon would still encourage all romance scam victims to come forward and speak out. It’s empowered her to be part of a movement of women, despite a perceived public perception of victims, she claimed.
“The minute you say you’ve been romance scammed, people think that either the person doesn’t exist, or you transferred money without meeting them,” said Shannon. “Every one of these victims was in a relationship him.
“He might have used a website to meet these people, but it wasn’t like these people transferred the money for nothing. It was all legit and all part of the story that he’s telling, like, he’s building a relationship.”
But, the horrific scam had a long-lasting impression on Shannon, she admitted. She said it’s now tough for her to trust men in general, but knows Harkins was in the minority.
“I firmly believe he’s a psychopath,” she said. “I don’t think all men are like that.
“But I do think it’s difficult for me to put my trust in men again, and that it’s probably more about me than it is about men in general.”
You can donate to Shannon’s GoFundMe to help raise money for Chris Harkins’ victims
