The Crimes of Timothy Carl McKinnon: Con Artist, Scam Mechanic, Fraudster, Career Criminal in Melbourne.
Story First Covered in the Herald Sun on 24 April 2020. Sunset Reveal is an independent news agency set to publicly archive existing news coverage.Date: 28 September 2025
Who is Tim?
Mechanic? Expert? Or Criminal Master in Fraud, Theft and Deception?
Timothy Carl McKinnon markets himself on Airtasker and similar gig apps as a reliable handyman and mechanic-for-hire. He claims to be highly skilled, presenting himself as someone who can service vehicles, fix mechanical faults, or manage odd jobs with competence.The truth tells another story.Victims have reported that Tim McKinnon is not a qualified mechanic. He has a long record of fraud, deception, and criminal conduct, including 37 offences dealt with at the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court in 2020 — among them drug offences, theft, and unlicensed driving.When confronted with his record, victims have reported that Tim downplays it as a “mere DUI,” concealing the reality of a far more serious criminal history. This tactic allows him to gain the trust of unsuspecting clients, who hand over money or vehicles only to find themselves defrauded.Victims have reported that he takes cash, promises repairs, and then abandons jobs or even cars and leaves them in worse condition than he found them. His modus operandi is deception dressed up as casual labour.
His Troubled Background
Timothy Carl McKinnon’s story is not one of redemption, but of escalation. Once introduced to cannabis by his own mother at just seven years old, Tim has spiralled into a lifetime of crime, addiction, and community harm. Despite coming from a troubled background, he continues to impose harm on others across Melbourne, showing no sign of reform or accountability.In April 2020, the Herald Sun described him bluntly as a “career criminal,” reporting his guilty pleas to 37 separate offences at the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court. These charges — ranging from theft and drug crimes to unlicensed and careless driving — arose from a drug-fuelled spree that endangered the public and underscored his complete disregard for the law.Today, even after release from jail, his pattern of theft and fraud continues, with new victims coming forward. His past conviction represents only the tip of the iceberg in an extensive record of exploitation and community harm.
A Pattern of Deception and Harm
Tim McKinnon operates through gig platforms and casual word of mouth, offering handyman and mechanic services to private clients. He represents himself as an experienced mechanic, claims to own or have worked in repair shops, and routinely downplays his criminal history as if it were trivial.Public records and reporting, however, reveal a long catalogue of offending and a consistent propensity to misrepresent his experience and credentials. McKinnon does not confine himself to one trade or one scam. Victims have reported that his conduct is opportunistic, spanning whatever odd jobs or manual labour he can exploit to gain access to money, vehicles, or property.Victims have reported Tim's behaviours, that include:
Upfront Payments: Taking deposits for mechanical repairs, home redesign, heavy lifting, or general labour, then failing to deliver. Victims are strung along with promises, vague updates, and no verifiable proof of work.
Ghosting & Abandonment: Once paid, he frequently cuts off communication with no intention of completing the job. In the case of vehicles, he has withheld them from rightful owners, or dumped them in public spaces in deteriorated condition.
Deception of Background: When challenged, he downplays his past, minimising serious criminal history and recasting convictions as minor infractions. In reality, his record includes dozens of offences and a documented history of dishonesty.
Predatory Targets: The pattern is consistent — he seeks out those least likely to fight back. Women, elderly people, and students are among the most frequent victims, bearing the cost of his exploitation.
Manipulative Sob Story: To those inclined toward empathy, he leans on a rehearsed narrative of hardship and struggle, framing himself as someone just trying to get out of a rut. This story disarms would-be sceptics and persuades them to give him chances he does not deserve.
Each scam is typically in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. The amounts are calculated to be small enough that many victims swallow the loss, feel unable to step forward, or encounter resistance when seeking help from police. This has allowed Tim McKinnon’s behaviour to continue largely unchecked, leaving a long list of under-reported victims across Melbourne.Every tactic is designed to create a veneer of trust, or sympathy, while exploiting reliance and vulnerability. The pattern is consistent with established fraud, deception, and consumer harm.
Parole, Compliance, and Public Safety
Tim McKinnon is not an ordinary debtor. His behaviour sits squarely within the purview of Community Correctional Services and the Adult Parole Board of Victoria. When individuals on supervision orders engage in dishonesty, fraud, or property offences, these are not minor lapses—they are signs of failed rehabilitation and ongoing risk to the community.Reporting such conduct can trigger compliance reviews or breach investigations, with severe consequences for parolees who refuse to reform. If you are a victim of Timothy Carl McKinnon, you should report the matter both to Victoria Police and to Community Correctional Services. The more victims who step forward, the stronger the case for intervention and the greater the chance of preventing further harm.
Why This Matters
Too often, career criminals like McKinnon exploit the system: they take money, hide behind addiction, and re-offend knowing their victims are exhausted, traumatised, or financially drained. Public exposure is one of the few ways to disrupt this cycle. The community deserves to know who they are dealing with.This is not about one stolen car or one night of reckless driving. It is about a longstanding trajectory of crime beginning in childhood, reinforced by poor choices and sustained harm to others. By failing to hold Tim accountable, society has allowed this pattern of behaviour to harden, at the cost of repeated victims and ongoing community risk.
Final Word
Timothy Carl McKinnon was given cannabis at seven. By adulthood, he had stacked up dozens of convictions, with a continued pattern of escalating drug use. And today, he continues to leave a trail of victims behind him.Despite that troubled background, the fact remains: McKinnon shows no sign of rehabilitation. He exploits community trust, takes advantage of gig platforms, and preys on vulnerable women, elders and students across Melbourne with calculated deception.Communities cannot afford to look the other way. We cannot treat predatory behaviour as bad luck for the unlucky. It is systemic, deliberate, and corrosive. McKinnon’s record proves this.If you encounter him—whether posing as a mechanic, a tradesman, or in any other guise—know this: the courts have already named him for what he is.
A Career Criminal.
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