Tinder and other popular dating apps have confirmed the man featured in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, and his “known aliases,” have been banned from the platforms.
The new documentary follows a group of women who were allegedly tricked out of millions of dollars by a man they met through the dating app. The individual, whose real name is Shimon Hayut, but who frequently used the name Simon Leviev to connect with potential dates, often claimed he was the wealthy son of a diamond dealer, a false identity he backed up through the use of private jets and extravagant dates.
According to the series, he was estimated to have stolen $10m (£7.4m) from a number of women after lying about his background. Hayut, who was also previously convicted of defrauding three Finnish women and served three years in prison before being released on bail, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, served five months of a 15-month prison sentence after his arrest in June 2019.
Following the popularity of the documentary, a spokesperson for Tinder told The Independent that Hayut is no longer active on the app under any of his aliases and has been banned since his actions became public in 2019.
“We banned Simon Leviev and any of his known aliases as soon as the story of his actions became public in 2019,” the spokesperson said. “He is permanently banned from Tinder.”
In the statement, the Tinder spokesperson also said that, in the “lead up to the release of the documentary, we conducted additional internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is not active on Tinder under any of his known aliases”.
In a statement of its own, the Match Group, which owns Tinder as well as other dating apps including OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, Hinge, and Match.com, said that Hayut has been permanently banned from all of its platforms.
The ban occurred after Hayut violated the terms of service at Tinder, with the Match spokesperson telling the DailyMail that any new accounts created by Hayut on any of the platforms will be deleted immediately.
Following the release of the documentary earlier this month, Hayut gained 200,000 followers on Instagram, where he frequently shared photos of his allegedly lavish lifestyle.
However, amid backlash from viewers, he recently deleted his account after thanking his followers for their “support” and promising to share his side of the story.
“I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself,” he said, adding: “Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”
