Conman 'used tinder to dupe lonely women'

Conman Jonathan Frame, 30, from Swinton, used the popular dating app to meet lonely women.

Once they had ‘fallen for his charm’ and begun to trust him, he would use their bank details to take out payday loans, Manchester Crown Court heard.

He even used their own money to buy them expensive gifts.

During the scams, Frame stole his victims’ identities to get overdrafts and credit cards. He rifled through their mail and set up fake email addresses so he could take command of their accounts.

Ringing up a lender to get one of the cards activated, he claimed his unwitting girlfriend of the time was deaf and couldn’t speak on the phone.Frame gave expensive gifts to his victims, who were unaware the items had been paid for with their own money. He also frittered away thousands on designer clothes and meals in restaurants.

At his crown court sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Frame begged for a suspended jail term, claiming he had a manager’s job at a top high street store. But Judge Michael Leeming told him ‘fraud is what you do for a living’ and said community punishment was ‘out of the question’.

Frame, who is from Swinton but had no fixed address at the time of his arrest, has now been jailed for 18 months. He admitted skipping bail last October and fraud offences totalling £6,990 against two young women he met on Tinder back in 2014.

One told court she had contemplated taking her own life, the other said she was frightened of future relationships.

The first victim in time was fleeced of £6,221 in just seven weeks. Even though she was unaware of what he would go on to do, she is liable for the debts because she had shared personal details with him.Seaking of her ordeal, Judge Leeming told Frame:

The second victim in time was targeted shortly afterwards using the same ‘well-practised modus operandi’, the court heard. She only learnt of what Frame had done after he walked out of her house one day and never came back.

A friend of his told her what he had been up to as lenders’ demands for payment piled up. She was cheated of £569.01 within just 13 days, and says she lies awake at night for hours worrying about it.

Frame has convictions for 21 previous offences, mainly for theft, fraud and fare-dodging, dating back ten years.

Defending in the latest case, barrister Paul Hodgkinson said Frame apologised for his actions.