This Valentine’s, instead of a nice old-fashioned love story, Netflix decided to give us a cautionary tale about love with its latest documentary, The Tinder Swindler.
As almost everyone on the internet is convinced it could never happen to them when talking about the bizarre scam, the Tinder Swindler himself has been very vocal, denying all allegations of being the infamous scammer.
Simon Leviev, the man at the center of Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary, has allegedly conned about $10 million out of women he met on Tinder.
In his first interview since Netflix dropped the film, Leviev has talked to Inside Edition about his supposed innocence regarding the incident. Leviev will also be joined by his new girlfriend in the interview.
The preview for the interview that will air in two parts on February 21 and February 22 shows him saying,
I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder. I am not a Tinder Swindler.
In another clip,
They present it as a documentary, but in truth, it’s like a complete made-up movie.
Leviev
Simon Leviev, however, is just another alias for the notorious scamster. His real name is Shimon Hayut.
As Netflix explains it, Hayut’s M.O. involved switching different identities to keep his scheme running. Using Leviev’s alias, he claimed to be the son of wealthy diamond billionaire Lev Leviev.
Hayut was eventually arrested in 2019 and sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud in Israel but was released just after five months.
Post the documentary’s release, Tinder has banned Simon Leviev or any other aliases he had created. The dating app also added new guidelines under ‘Romance Scams: How to Protect Yourself Online.’
As he can no longer scam women using Tinder, Hayut is now looking at Hollywood to chase money. According to Entertainment Tonight, he has signed on with a talent manager and hopes to host his own dating show, among other things.
(Although, I reckon it’ll definitely be tougher to con big agencies compared to vulnerable, naïve women looking for love.)
The Tinder Swindler is now available to stream on Netflix.
About The Tinder Swindler
The Tinder Swindler is a British true-crime documentary film directed by Felicity Morris for Netflix.
The film follows an Israeli man, born Shimon Hayut, who traveled around Europe, presenting himself as the son of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev.
He then used the dating app Tinder to contact women as Simon Leviev and tricked them into lending him money that he never repaid. He would then use the money gained through the deception to lure new victims.
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