Judges in Brazil have sentenced a Tinder swindler who conned women out of six-figure sums to four and a half years in jail.

The court in Sao Bernardo do Campo handed heavyset Renan Augusto Gomes four years and six months in prison on 12th February after convicting him of fraud.

The court heard how he scammed a woman in the city to the tune of BRL 150,000 (GBP 24,000) after meeting her through a dating app.

He was only on trial over this count, but another witness told the court how he allegedly conned her out of an eye-watering BRL 500,000 (GBP 80,000).

Gomes’s lawyer has since said in a statement: “As soon as the sentence is published, the defence counsel will comment on a possible appeal.”

Civil Police seized Gomes in Sao Paulo on 21st September as he tried to flee officers in a car but came to a stop after hitting three vehicles.

An image – seen here – shows how the car was left heavily damaged on the pavement.

After his arrest, multiple women approached police alleging that they had lost money to him. Media in Brazil dubbed him the “Tinder Heartthrob”.

In addition to the women already mentioned, one said she had lost BRL 15,000 (GBP 2,400) to him, while another said he had set her back BRL 8,000 (GBP 1,800).

One woman kept screenshots of decade-old threats he had sent her after the two met online in 2011 when they were both living in Sao Jose do Rio Preto.

According to Civil Police, Gomes’s modus operandi was to tell his victims he was the son of Germans and had lost his parents in an accident in Sao Paulo State.

He would then ask his victims for bank transfers or cash to help him open or keep afloat a company that did not exist.

Police said he had profiles on multiple social networks, including Tinder, Inner, Happn, and Lovoo, where he went by the moniker Augusto Keller.

Over the course of his relationships, he would borrow money, claiming he had revenue or bank problems, and would then disappear, leaving his victims in debt.