A conman who swindled women he met on dating sites, friends and partners out of thousands of pounds to fuel his luxury lifestyle and gambling habit faces possible jail time.

Michael Higgins duped 12 friends into giving him huge amounts of cash amid claims he would set up rounds of golf at the prestigious St Andrews Old Course at a reduced price. 

The 42-year-old also cheated women he met on dating sites into handing over money, saying he could supply one with cheap Apple products, and telling another victim his sister needed help with vet bills.

The lying crook also convinced a pensioner who worked for a loan company into sending him £6000 of her own funds after he told her he had to attend a private hospital for an operation.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the elderly woman was so shocked when police informed her of Higgins’ deceit that she was ‘physically sick on two occasions’ whilst giving her statement.

The lying crook also convinced a pensioner who worked for a loan company into sending him £6000 of her own funds after he told her he needed private medical care 

Prosecutor Ruaridh Allison spoke for 40 minutes as he detailed 11 elaborate acts of fraud committed between 2020 and 2022 by Higgins. 

The conman pleaded guilty to the offences at the capital court on Monday afternoon.

Mr Allison detailed how Higgins befriended victims after meeting them at the Deer Park and Newbattle golf clubs.

He would tell the unsuspecting victims he could organise for them to play at the world famous Old Course at St Andrews in Fife for a fee of £145.

The men transferred hundreds of pounds into Higgins’ bank account but the promised rounds of golf never materialised despite being confronted on several occasions.

Higgins, from Livingston, West Lothian, also took several payments totalling to £1475 from one friend who had been duped into believing he was paying for a three day golf holiday to Spain.

The court heard how Higgins met ex-partners Fleur Brand and Katie Black via online dating sites such as Bumble and Tinder where he quickly began fleecing them for cash.

Ms Brand was told Higgins could obtain cheap Apple products through his work with a finance company but despite handing over £350 for an iPad Pro, she never received the item.

Ms Black was conned out of a total of £6160 after meeting the lying Romeo on Tinder in 2021.

Higgins also conned women out of money after meeting them on dating sites, claiming he could sell them Apple devices and that his sister needed help for vet bills

His scams included telling her his ‘online banking was not working’ and that he later needed funds to help his sister with large vet bills for her cat.

The fiscal depute said Ms Black had eventually ‘used up all her savings’ by handing over cash to Higgins and one lie saw him break down in tears claiming he needed money as his mother had ‘no money for food’.

Mr Allison said a third woman met Higgins through her employment with a loan company but he had contacted her personally pleading for help to pay for travel to London as he  was heading to hospital for treatment for a leg injury.

The pensioner believed the web of lies and transferred a total of £6490 of her own cash into Higgins account after he had told her he ‘required money to eat’ and ‘needed money for clothes’.

The court was told the elderly victim had made 127 cash transactions to Higgins over a two year period and when police informed her of the fraud she had thrown up on two occasions due to the shock.

The fiscal said a police investigation into Higgins began following a complaint to them by Ms Brand and more victims came forward after she had named and shamed him online in 2022.

Mr Allison added: ‘The banking records of the accused were seized and what can be seen in those banking records is the money being deposited to the accused has been used for payments on gambling websites.

‘There are occasions when the funds have been used for purchases of designer clothing but by far and away the vast majority of the sums transferred were spent on gambling.’

He also swindled friends with claims he could get golf rounds at the prestigious St Andrews Old Course at a reduced price

The court heard Higgins fraudulently obtained a total of £18,225 from 15 complainers between February 1, 2020 and May 28, 2022.

Higgins had pleaded not guilty to a further 12 allegations of fraud and one charge of failing to appear at court accepted by the Crown.

Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss said: ‘This is a catalogue of charges that means you are in a very serious position.

‘I have to tell you the most likely outcome for a catalogue of charges like this is a custodial sentence.’

Higgins was granted bail and sentence was deferred to next month.