Victorian crime website owner admits using fictional reporter identities
Craig Winder says Philippines-based writers produce stories credited to an invented Australian reporting team on Victoria Crime News.
The owner of Victoria Crime News, Craig Winder, has acknowledged that the website's purported local reporting team is fictional, with stories instead produced by writers he employs in the Philippines.
The website attributes more than 250 articles published since February 2026 to four specialist crime reporters. Winder said the writers used invented Australian identities and acknowledged that the false biographies were deceptive.
Some reports contain factual errors. A story about homicide victim Kade Hall gives 2014 as the year he was last seen. Victoria Police records instead give 2002, when his body was discovered near Kalorama with fatal gunshot wounds.
Another report incorrectly portrays Shannon McCormack as a woman who disappeared. McCormack was a man fatally assaulted by an unidentified attacker in Melbourne's CBD in 2002. The website also uses AI-generated pictures, including images that do not resemble the locations described.
Winder said he was surprised by the errors and would discuss them with his writers and make corrections. He also said he did not intend the site to plagiarise journalists' reporting.
Winder, who also directs a home security installation company, said attempted burglaries against him partly prompted the venture. He said his aim was to increase awareness of Victorian crime and press the government to act. The domain previously carried official police announcements until 2019, before he later acquired it.
