Netflix's The Tinder Swindler documentary tells how conman Shimon Hayut AKA Simon Leviev managed to get several women to hand him thousand of dollars - which he has never paid back.
Simon dubbed himself the 'Prince of Diamonds' in order to meet women on the dating app Tinder and soon swept them up into his lavish lifestyle.
He hooked women in by pretending to be the son of billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev, who had a net worth of $1.5billion.
By stepping out in designer gear, driving flash supercars, travelling on private jets and attending hot spots around the globe he kept up the deception.
Simon's story was all a con - and Netflix has delved into his life of scamming and how Simon is an Israeli fraudster that drained victims of money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
The filmmakers shared the stories of Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjöholm and Ayleen Charlotte - who are still having to pay off their debts from being hoaxed by Simon.
In 2015, Finnish authorities charged him with defrauding three women, who were not those who took part in the documentary, and sentenced him to two years in jail.
In 2017, he was returned to Israel, where he was to be re-charged and sentenced, but assumed a different identity and fled the country.
He was extradited back to Israel in October 2019, after fleeing the country in 2017 to avoid trial for various fraud-related offences.
The conman was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $43,289 in compensation but in December 2019 but was released after serving five months behind bars.
So how did he manage to hoodwink so many people? And what tactics did he use to make his false story seem real?
Dream man
One way Simon successful conned women was by presenting that he was the man of their dreams.
Due to social media, he was able to make out that he had it all - a good job, huge wealth and suave looks.
After matching with the women he's established trust and built rapport with them by quickly meeting them for a coffee date - usually at 5-star hotels.
During the dates, he'd boast about his families 'wealth' and how he was a high-flying businessman.
Taking the con to the next level, he would then invite them to join him on a trip - quickly leading to them being amazed by his generosity.
Simon quickly made the women believe they were special after they'd bond on the spontaneous getaways and meet his team of assistants and bodyguards.
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After the initial date, he would tell them he was always busy travelling for business, and as a result, they'd mostly communicate online.
Making out they were lovers, the women would swap bedroom selfies with Simon, talk about the days and catch up with him on FaceTime.
He'd make them believe they were up to date with his travels by sending them geotag locations of where he was staying alongside personalised videos.
Simon cemented relationships with the ladies by sharing that he missed them and loved them - in some cases, he's told them that he saw them as his future wife and mother of his kids.
He wooed them by sending them impressive gifts such as huge bunches of flowers, plush toys.
Simon kept up the right amount of face-to-face contact with his victims by putting them on occasional flights so they could meet face to face.
By being persistent and patient he would then wait for the perfect moment to ask them for help.
Fear for his life
After making the women feel that he was close to them - either as a romantic link or special friend - Simon was able to exploit them by making them feel like they were the only person to help him.
He had a strategy to exploit this - which he did time and time again with the help of staged snaps.
After telling stories to his victims that his diamond business was high risk he fabricated that many people were after him.
He told that enemies wanted him dead and painted a picture that he was under threat.
Simon appeared to make the story believable to the women by sharing snaps, via Whatsapp, of his bodyguard hurt as well as selfies where he appeared to have blood on his face.
The fraudster would say that the photos were from the aftermath of an attempted attack by his enemies, before adding that his credit cards were to blame for security breaches.
He claimed his bank cards were being tracked and that he needed the women to give him cash or take out cards and loans for him so that he could move around without being followed.
As he had been so flash, the women trusted that he would pay them back - so complied over fears for his safety.
By him telling them the risk of him being hurt or killed was immediate he successful ensured that the women felt compelled to help him right away - allowing him to keep his bank balance topped up.
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Brazen trickery
Simon did not care about settling bills at hotels, restaurants and nightclubs with credit cards in the women's names.
By doing this he covered himself with the excuse that he was borrowing the money.
He also forced some of his victims to tell the credit card companies that they were the ones using the cards in the locations - to stop the money being blocked.
Simon also got the women to book plane tickets for other women he was conning - allowing him to never have to spend money himself.
He'd use the funds from one victim to portray his jet setter life to another, before asking the next victim for help and this allowed him to constantly recycle the same con on different women.
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