Mathew Brotherton: Mildura man used Kik, Tinder, Facebook to scam victims

A girl lent a Mildura man $200, but he told her he never got it. So she sent it again. Eight days later, she was down thousands.

A Mildura man convinced others to transfer him money with fake payment receipts, a court has heard.

A Mildura man blackmailed a victim he met online and obtained tens of thousands from others.

Mathew Brotherton, who also used the name Mathew Schelfhout, pleaded guilty at the County Court on Wednesday.

Brotherton, 22 at the time of the offending, was charged twice with obtaining financial advantage by deception, twice with obtaining property by deception, theft and blackmail.

Brotherton on July 21 last year used the “fetish encounters” section of a personals app to meet his blackmail victim.

Brotherton had advertised: “Looking for fun glory hole in Mildura if anyone is keen”.

The conversation between the pair moved to the Kik messaging platform, where Brotherton adopted the username “emmie11112”.

Brotherton sent pictures of a woman he said was his sister, claiming she was 16, and suggested a threesome.

The victim was hesitant about participating.

That evening, Brotherton asked the victim for money because a service station ATM had taken his card, ultimately convincing him to send $140.

Brotherton told the victim because he’d seen his name on the bank details, he knew where he worked and again raised the idea of a threesome.

After the victim said the sister’s age was “worrying”, Brotheron told the victim no one would find out.

When the victim agreed to the threesome, Brotherton wrote: “Get me $300 now or else ever one (sic) knows”.

The victim borrowed $200 cash from his mother but Brotherton said that wasn’t enough and demanded $500, threatening to go to the police.

Communication was then ended by the victim, who went to police with the messages.

Brotherton said in a police interview he had threatened to post the information if he wasn’t paid and that it was “probably blackmail”.

In mid-April last year, Brotherton met another victim, a 19-year-old female, on Tinder.

He asked for a financial favour of $200 as he’d left his bank card at home.

She gave him the money with the expectation Brotherton would send her $200 the next day.

However, Brotherton then told her neither had received any funds and that he’d spoken to the bank, who said she needed to send the money again to “clear” the transactions.

This led to numerous transactions over the next few days.

Brotherton deceived his victim by sending multiple false payment receipts that indicated he’d repaid her.

The victim sent $12,200 over eight days.

Brotherton told police he thought about $10,000 had been transferred and “I never paid her back obviously”.

In May last year, Brotherton met another victim on Tinder, promising to send “extra” money back if he was transferred $500.

She complied and later reported the transaction.

On July 18 last year, Brotherton sent another victim a fake screenshot of a $1000 bank transfer in order to secure an instant transfer of $300.

He then convinced the victim to send another $200 for the payment to “clear”, before asking for another $100.

The victim ultimately parted with $1101.

Between April and July last year, Brotherton sent Facebook messages to a co-worker continually asking for money for various reasons, including paying for a funeral.

He then instigated a series of transactions he claimed would “clear” other transactions.

The victim ended up with a total of $22,313 transferred out of his account.

Brotherton told police this included money recalled by the co-worker’s bank, because Brotherton had used the co-workers account when obtaining money from an earlier victim.

In July last year, Brotherton used an alias on Facebook Marketplace to sell an Apple Watch for $360.

When this victim received the watch, he found it was locked.

Brotherton said it needed to be returned and that he would repay the victim $400, but provided a fake bank transfer receipt.

The matter will next be heard on December 10.