Brenton Fillers: ‘TikTok Trickster’ arrested in Kentucky for swindling thousands of dollars by conning women online
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LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: Brenton Fillers, 54, a man dubbed as "TikTok Trickster", who was wanted in several states across the US for allegedly swindling thousands of dollars from multiple women after wooing them online, was recently arrested in Kentucky. He was taken into custody on Friday, April 14, 2023, over theft and fraud charges brought against him in Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee, the Daily Mail reported.
Chief John Barber of the Spanish Fort Police Department (SFPD) in Alabama said it was Fillers’ “vanity” of showing off his golf trophies online that helped officers to catch the alleged con artist. He was eventually arrested after ending up at the University of Kentucky hospital for an unrelated health issue and revealing the name of the doctor treating him by calling one of his victims.
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Officials went to the hospital after making an online search and using Fillers’ golfing tournament photos to confirm his identity, the publication noted. The man was released from the healthcare center over the weekend before being booked into the Fayette County Detention Center.
Who is Brenton Fillers?
Fillers, 54, is an alleged serial con artist who has been nicknamed as “TikTok Trickster” for conning multiple women online for money by using fake photos and names. He was recently arrested in Kentucky after authorities accumulated warrants against him issued across multiple states in the US. SFPD Chief John Barber revealed that Fillers is a golfer and his “vanity” of showing his trophies on social media led to his arrest, as per the Daily Mail.
“It was his vanity that got him. He's a golfer. His vanity was showing trophies of him winning golf tournaments in Texas that were online, in newspapers, what have you, and that's how we were able to get the initial hit,” he said.
The officer told Fox 26 Houston that Fillers “never had a job” his whole life and is a “prolific con artist” whose criminal history spans over 30 years. He said that Fillers have been committing offences for “quite some time” and embraced a pattern of making women falling in love with him before swindling their money and property. The man reportedly used fake names and fake photos to attract women and lured his victims by providing them “attention,” Barber noted. He also said that Fillers had at least 27 known aliases and a criminal history in six different states.
Authorities believe the man used fake names and photos to connect with unsuspecting women on TikTok and complimented them before asking for an in-person meeting, the outlet reported. He allegedly asked for money from his victims by using his “sob stories” after gaining their trust and eventually left them after stealing thousands of dollars and even properties like their vehicle. Before moving on to his next victim, Fillers often changed his cellphone and fake persona. “The only way we would have gotten this is through the media attention. We only knew that someone as prolific as him- he’s a con artist, he moves around the country, that he’s only going to be caught by someone seeing pictures of him- going, ‘wow, that is the guy I’m talking to, or that my friend is talking to,’” Chief Barber told Fox 10 while speaking about Fillers’ arrest.
Brenton Fillers' prior crimes spans across three decades
Law enforcement authorities believe Fillers has been pulling off his scams for nearly three decades even before using TikTok to con women. “He's done this for quite some time. He knows what key phrases they want to hear and unfortunately that's what he uses against them,” Chief Barber said, as per the Daily Mail.
In the wake of his arrest, a woman named Tricia told WAVE that she was a victim of Fillers’ scam and that he stole her car in Alabama. She said that she first came across Fillers’ profile on TikTok where he called himself “Jason Mitchell”. Tricia allegedly picked him from the Mobile airport in Alabama and later found out that he was running from another incident. “He got me to pick him up for the Mobile Airport,” she told the outlet.
After spending a few days with the woman, Fillers said he was going to take her car into the shop only to disappear with her vehicle. “It's unreal how many women have probably been affected from dealing with this man. I hope he gets caught and that we can minimize other people he can do this to,” Tricia said. “He came down from West Virginia with a lady that he was with. They were en route to Texas. He said they had to square away something with the IRS. She had fronted him thousand dollars,” Chief Barber stated, elaborating on the incident.
“He said, ‘let’s stop in Daphne, and do the rest of the trip the next day.’ He then went to the Mobile Airport, got in touch with our Spanish Fort resident and said ‘come pick me up,’” he added. The chief also shared that Fillers took off with that woman’s credit cards and cash.
Barber also revealed that another alleged victim from Texas reached out Spanish Fort police after seeing Fillers’ story on the news. “She said, ‘I didn’t want to say anything in front of my son and my friend- I sent him a lot of money.’ I said, ‘how much is a lot of money?’ She said ‘42 thousand in 3 weeks,’ I said ‘how did you send it to him?’ She said, ‘I sent it as cash. Cash to an address in Kentucky for three different packages.’ Now we had an address in Kentucky,” he told Fox 10.
Shortly after, another victim in Kentucky also reached out with her experience. “The victim went to a local department in Kentucky and went ‘my gosh, this guy has been living with me the past couple of weeks!’ He took $240. We converged from two different angles, two different victims,” Barber told the outlet. Authorities have said Fillers engaged in a string of crime over the past three decades and disguised himself under more than two dozen aliases, the publication reported.
The 54-year-old is reportedly facing a theft of property charge in Alabama, felony fraud use of a credit card charge in Arkansas, theft of a motor vehicle charge in Tennessee, and potential additional charges in Kentucky.
He has also been charged for sexually assaulting a child but police have not provided any additional information regarding that case. “He’s a criminal- he’s a low life, he’s a predator. He’s not only a con-artist, he’s wanted for the rape of an 11-year-old boy in Texas. What’s scary to me is he’s living with these women, visiting these women who have kids as well,” Chief Barber told Fox 10. “We have finally put him in custody, but he’s been in custody 30 plus times before. This needs to be his last stop,” he added.
‘Don't trust anyone’
“Don't trust anyone. Don't trust anyone when it comes to social media,” Officer Danielle Strickland of the Somerset Police Department said after Fillers’ arrest. “Just follow your intuition. if you think something is wrong, act on it, don't let it go,” he added. “Today's arrest demonstrates the importance of collaboration in law enforcement,” University of Kentucky Police Chief Joe Monroe shared. “We want to extend our thanks to the Somerset Police Department and the Baldwin County (Alabama) Sheriff's Office, who have assisted UK Police with the investigation,” he mentioned.