A serial Fife fraudster who used Grindr to target victims has been accused of scamming another man he met on the dating app.
Robbie Hamilton, who avoided a jail sentence in 2022 for defrauding or extorting five men, is now alleged to have swindled £2,590 from a Kirkcaldy man he met online in October last year.
WhatsApp messages show Hamilton requesting sums of money to purportedly pay for food, household bills, loans, fees, “fuel and parts” for a job, car insurance and to get his “impounded” car back from police.
The conversation, often sexual in nature, saw Hamilton, 22, say on various occasions he will come to see his victim to repay him.
The Courier has seen evidence of 20 bank transfer payments to Hamilton in four days, as well as an email from a financial ombudsman investigator who concludes the man “fell victim to the scam”.
Dodged prison in 2022
In June 2022, Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane told Hamilton of his crimes: “Rarely have I read about such vile behaviour.”
She said “doing what you did was so wrong on every level” as she sentenced him for fraud and extortion of older men he met on Grindr.
This included defrauding one man than £8,300 and telling another he had screenshotted his nude pictures and would “print them and post them all over Burntisland and the internet” unless he was paid.
The court heard he would also engage in sexual conversation before persuading his victims to part with cash to help him pay bills.
He was placed on supervision – with a prison warning – and given the maximum 300 hours unpaid work.
Police are now investigating the report of a fresh alleged fraud.
‘I want him to stop’
The man in his 30s, who asked to remain anonymous, said he challenged Hamilton after reading about his past offending.
He said he was “reeled in” by a combination of Hamilton giving him attention, “preying” on his vulnerability of not yet “coming out” as gay to friends and family and initially requesting relatively small sums of money.
“It’s pretty disgusting that someone would prey on aspects of sexuality to exploit money,” he said.
“It would be nice to have my money back but I don’t think the boy even has it to give me it back.
“It’s the fact he is still doing this.
“I would like him to stop, to not be able to do it again, either by telling people about him or if he was actually punished by the legal system.
“I want people to know he is a con-artist.
“If he ends up going to jail, that’s probably what he deserves.”
Suspicious of misfortunes
The man told us he began chatting to Hamilton on Grindr in October last year and the conversation moved swiftly onto WhatsApp.
He said he initially sent £100 to help with a loan payment before Hamilton sent pictures and videos, including some of a sexual nature.
More money was transferred after Hamilton sent a photo of his passport, supposedly so the man knew he would pay him back and meet him.
A further £180 was sent to help pay for car insurance and tax, food and dog food, electric and gas and within 35 minutes he sent another £200 for a new insurance deposit after Hamilton claimed his policy has been cancelled.
He said, a few hours later at around 3am, Hamilton sent him a Snapchat picture of a police car and claimed he had been pulled over while driving to see him.
In the WhatsApp messages, Hamilton claims his “motor wasn’t insured until 6am” and his vehicle had been “impounded” and later that day he asked for money to get it back.
Growing suspicious of Hamilton’s misfortunes, the man asked him to sign a written contract which said “any and all money” provided is to be considered an “interest free loan and will be paid back in full at my earliest convenience”.
A short time later, Hamilton asked for about £200 due to “clear pay” funds leaving his account, apparently leaving him with just £40 to withdraw.
He said “I can swear on my dad’s grave” he would not ask for money again.
He made an identical promise to a previous victim.
Past uncovered
After being told by Hamilton he would need to arrange a loan to repay him, the man Googled him and found The Courier’s June 2022 article detailing his past crimes and asked him about it.
“He (Hamilton) got particularly angry and aggressive towards me and said it was totally different circumstances and his biggest concern over the whole thing was that the photograph chosen (in the article) did not make him look particularly good.
“He was like ‘yeah, I have not extorted you or anything, it’s not blackmail’.
“He said he had learned his lesson and he had never done any of that to me.”
In the messages, Hamilton insists he has done nothing wrong and claimed the man will “get every penny back”.
More than a year on nothing has been repaid, the man said, though he continued to chat to Hamilton in a bid to get money back and even ended up transferring more.
Hamilton said he would transfer him money but needed help to pay an associated fee after running into difficulties with his PayPal account.
The man said: “I just thought he would disappear, I felt I had to keep it open.
“At this point I am in damage limitation and if it means an extra £200 to get the rest of it back it would at least get it over. That fell through again.
“I sent him money and he made excuses.”
Job offer
He later paid Hamilton a combined £294 for “parts and fuel” to do a job in Inverness which would supposedly allow him to be “paid back in full”.
After further requests for sums of money, the police and bank were informed.
A financial services ombudsman investigator concluded the man “fell victim to the scam” and should be compensated by the bank for half his losses – which has received.
The investigator states the frequency of transactions over a four-day period “ought to have raised suspicions” with the bank, while noting the man did “contribute to his losses” as it was not reasonable to believe the multiple requests for money were the actions of a genuine person.
They also said there was “negative information available online” about Hamilton.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We can confirm a report of an alleged fraud in the Kirkcaldy area was received and enquiries into the matter are ongoing.”
Repeated attempts to contact Hamilton at his home in Burntisland‘s Dick Crescent gained no response.
