Melbourne Tinder swindler's jail time cut

One of the Melbourne Tinder swindler's victims fears he will continue to steal money from women he meets on dating apps when released, after his jail time was reduced on appeal.

Christopher Alan Collins had his 16-month non-parole period reduced by three months by a judge on Friday.

The 33-year-old was jailed for a maximum of 22 months in September, after admitting to stealing and gambling more than $100,000 from women he met on dating apps.

At the time, Magistrate Cecily Hollingworth described Collins' offending as brazen, cunning and said it showed his lack of respect for women.

Collins had just completed an 18-month community work order for similar offending when he began stealing from a woman he met on Tinder in January 2020.

He convinced her to open new online betting accounts and gained access to her banking. 

While on a date at a pub he transferred $96,000 out of her account and moved more than $70,000 into betting accounts.

When she confronted him, he blackmailed, manipulated and threatened her, sending messages pretending to be his mother and told her she owed money to bikies.

The woman told the court on Friday she is now $63,000 in debt, has applied for financial hardship and relies on handouts from friends and family.

"My life will never be the same and I wouldn't wish this traumatic experience, because of the perpetrator, upon anyone else," she said, in a statement to court.

Collins was on bail for this offending when he stole $8000 from a single mother of two children.

"I slept well before the world got turned upside down by Chris Collins. This crime changed me beyond repair," the woman said in a statement.

Collins, who appealed his sentence, appeared in Melbourne's County Court by video link from prison on Friday, having now served 13 months of his jail term.

His barrister William Blake argued his client deserved a shorter sentence as he had undertaken programs to address his gambling addiction and mental health issues.

"The personality disorder and gambling disorder significantly impacted his mental functioning at the time of the offending," Mr Blake told the court.

Judge Richard Maidment said he saw a glimmer of hope that Collins' rehabilitation prospects had improved.

"I'm encouraged by the glimmer. If I see someone taking steps towards rehabilitation, positive steps that he doesn't seem to have taken in the past, it fills me with some degree of hope," he said.

He reduced Collins' minimum jail term to 13 months, which means he is now eligible to apply for parole.

Outside of court, one of Collins' victims said she was "furious" about Judge Maidment's decision.

"I'm still suffering significant financial strain as a result of his activities," she told AAP.

She fears he will reoffend if granted parole, given his prior history, and warned other women to look out for him on dating apps.

"The fact that he did it to me, two months after he got (off a community corrections order), then recommitted whilst on bail, I cannot believe it," she said.

"Absolutely be mindful of who you are meeting and should he get parole, I'd obviously encourage people to remember what he looks like."

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