The brazen culprit known as The Tinder Swindler extracted over $7 million from his victims to fund his ‘billionaire lifestyle’.
Simon Leviev as he is known to his victims was actually born as Shimon Hayut, a convicted Israeli fraudster, who changed his name, then portrayed himself as The Prince of Diamonds.
His evil dating scam was developed into the Netflix documentary “The Tinder Swindler” which has become very popular since its release on February 2nd and is currently at the top of Netflix’s weekly film chart in Ireland and the UK.
Is it based on a true story?
The two hour documentary is based on true events and includes real-life interviews with the victims and how they handled their ordeal.
Three of his victims Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte have set up a go fund me as they have yet to pay off their debts.
Shimon Hayut used the name ‘Simon Leviev’ on dating apps to meet several women, then got credit and loans in their names, which left them holding the bills.
In an attempt to conceal his identity, he regularly jumped from identity to identity to keep his scheme running and cover his tracks.
He was previously convicted of fraud in Finland under his real name.
Hayut carried out his Tinder romance scam under the name Simon Leviev, where he was claiming to be the heir of the wealthy diamond magnate Russian-Israeli, Lev Leviev.
The show revolves around a group of women who come together in an act of revenge to take down (Simon Leviev).
Two of Hayut’s victims told Netflix camera’s they were lured by his scam after he splashed the cash on them.
This encouraged women to give him money and convince them he would eventually repay them, which was never the case.
Simon would swipe right on a Tinder match, build her trust by seducing her with a lavish date, while whisking her around the world on a private jet.
He did the exact same thing with multiple women in secret.
Hayut would confide in the women and would claim he was worried and that he had people and enemies after him.
He sent a photo of his bodyguard bleeding because of an alleged assault by these so-called enemies to create concer among the women.
He would message each secret girlfriend to say he couldn’t use his cards for safety and security reasons.
This encouraged the women to get new credit cards in their name, and off he went to complete the scam.
Hayut developed a pattern of sending increasingly unhinged WhatsApp voice messages, even sending one to producers when he learned about the Netflix show’s existence.
The actions of Hayut posing as Lev liev’s son Simon, even led to Lev Leviev filing a complaint with Israeli authorities about him.
Hayut’s father is Yohanan Hayut, the chief rabbi for El Al Airlines.
One day after the netflix show debuted, Hayut (Simon’s) Instagram account was removed, and Tinder put out a statement claiming he had been banned from their platform.
Was he ever caught and where is he now?
Simon Leviev (Hayut) is a wanted man in several countries.
He was caught in Greece and extradited to Israel in 2019.
It emerged he had also served two years in jail in Finland for similar dating frauds.
He received a 15-month sentence for fraud, but only served five months.
Since his release in May 2020, Hayut has lived as a free man and regularly posted on his Instagram account where he gained over 100,000 followers, but his account has since been deleted.
After his release, the documentary said, Hayut started a website offering business advice, Leviev has rebranded himself as a real estate expert.
Thanks to the three women from the documentary a quick google of Simon Leviev lifts the veil on his carefully carved image and shows him for the con artist he is.
