‘TikTok Trickster’ arrested after ‘conning women out of thousands’ by wooing them online
A man known as the ‘TikTok Trickster’ who allegedly scammed thousands of women by courting them with fake photos has been arrested after gathering warrants in multiple states.
Brenton Fillers, 54, was taken into custody by Kentucky police on Friday on larceny and fraud charges filed against him in Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee after they said his “vanity” in posting pictures of golf tournaments got him caught.
It was his vanity that got him. He’s a golfer. His vanity showed trophies of him winning golf tournaments in Texas that were online, in newspapers, whatever, and that’s how we were able to land the first hit,” said Chief Commissioner John Barber of the Fort Spanish Police Department in Alabama.
Police say Filers would hook up with women on TikTok, form a relationship with them before asking for money and then dumping.
“He’s never had a job,” Spanish Fort, Alabama, police chief John Barber said in an interview with FOX 26 in Houston. His criminal history spans more than 30 years. He’s a prolific swindler.’
A man known as the ‘TikTok Trickster’ who scammed thousands of women by courting them with fake photos has been arrested after collecting warrants in multiple states
Brenton Fillers, 54, was taken into custody Friday by the University of Kentucky police on larceny and fraud charges filed against him in Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee
It was his vanity that got him. He’s a golfer. His vanity showed trophies of him winning golf tournaments in Texas that were online, in newspapers, what have you got, and that’s how we were able to land the first hit,” Fort Spanish Police Chief John Barber said.
According to Chief Barber, the man had been gambling for “quite some time” and had embraced a pattern of making women fall in love with them before they ran off with their money and belongings.
“It’s the attention he showed them,” said Barber of Fillers, who police say would use fake names as well as fake photos to attract victims.
Officials believe he had engaged in similar scams over three decades prior to TikTok.
“He’s been doing this for quite some time. He knows what key phrases they want to hear and unfortunately he uses that against them.”
A woman named Tricia told me GOLF that she was a victim of his scam and that his car was stolen by the man in Alabama.
“It’s unreal how many women are likely affected by dealing with this man,” the woman said.
She said that she first came across his profile on TikTok and he called himself ‘Jason Mitchell’ at the time.
Tricia said she picked him up from the mobile airport in Alabama only to find out he was on the run from another incident.
According to police, Fillers has been on his gamble for “some time” and had embraced a pattern of making women fall in love with them before they ran off with their money
Officials believe he had engaged in similar scams over three decades prior to TikTok
“He never had a job,” Fort, Alabama police chief John Barber said in an interview with FOX 26 in Houston. His criminal history spans more than 30 years. He’s a prolific con artist’
“He came from West Virginia with a lady he was with. They were on their way to Texas. He said they had to work something out with the IRS. She had paid him a thousand dollars,’ Barber said.
“He said, ‘Let’s stop in Daphne and do the rest of the journey the next day.’ He then went to the mobile airport, contacted our resident of the Spanish fort and said come and pick me up,” the Spanish fort’s police chief said.
The police chief also stated that he made off with that woman’s credit cards and cash.
“He let me pick him up in front of the mobile airport,” Tricia said.
After a few days with Tricia, he told her he would take her car to the store, never to return with her vehicle.
“I hope he gets caught and we can minimize other people he can do this to,” Tricia told WAVE.
In the end, however, it was his “vanity” that helped the police catch him.
Fillers could be caught after he ended up in the hospital and called one of his victims, to whom he gave the name of the doctor who treated him.
After searching online and using his golf tournament photos to confirm his identity, police proceeded to arrest him at the University of Kentucky hospital.
The details of the injury that landed him in the hospital are unknown, but he was released this weekend and admitted to the Fayette County Detention Center.
This is the University of Kentucky where Fillers was taken into police custody on Friday
“Today’s arrest demonstrates the importance of law enforcement cooperation,” University of Kentucky Police Chief Joe Monroe said Friday.
“We would like to express our gratitude to the Somerset Police Department and the Baldwin County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office for assisting British police with the investigation.”
Fillers faces a charge of property theft in Alabama, abusive credit card fraud in Arkansas, theft of a motor vehicle in Tennessee and possible additional charges in Kentucky, where he was arrested.
He was also charged with assaulting a child, but police have not released any additional information on that case.
‘Trust no one. Don’t trust anyone when it comes to social media,” said Somerset Police Officer Danielle Strickland.
‘Just follow your intuition. if you think something is wrong, act on it, don’t let it go,” Strickland said.