Netflix Documentary: Does the "Tinder Swindler" Really Exist?
Created: 2022-02-08 15:25
By: Franziska Kaindl
A reenactment of a scene from the Netflix documentary Tinder Swindlers.
©Netflix
The Netflix documentary about the “Tinder swindler” has been a hot topic for a few days.
Many people ask themselves: Can this really be real?
A man who lives the jet-set life, stays in the most luxurious hotels and wears the most expensive designer brands - all at the expense of Tinder acquaintances wrapped around his finger.
What sounds like a Hollywood film is currently being treated in the Netflix * documentary "Tinder Swindler".
Here victims tell how they were badly betrayed by a man named Simon Leviev.
And although some viewers want to rub their eyes in amazement at such a story, it is actually based on real events.
Netflix documentary: Women tell of the "Tinder swindler"
The "Tinder swindler", whose real name is Shimon Hayut, is said to have robbed at least ten women of around ten million dollars (approx. 8.75 million euros) over the years through "love scamming".
In 2019, his story became known to the general public, and
Spiegel
also reported on it in 2020 and spoke to victims.
The women report on his scam – how he
posed as a wealthy diamond or arms dealer on the dating app “Tinder”
and is said to have wrapped his acquaintances around his finger with apparent similarities or his unobtrusive manner.
He invited his dates to expensive restaurants and flew to Paris with them for the weekend.
Until the tide is said to have turned at some point: either were according to him
his accounts frozen or he claimed to be in mortal danger
.
By the time the women realized they were being cheated, it was usually too late.
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What is the "Tindler-Schwindler" doing today?
In fact, the "Tinder swindler" was arrested after Norwegian journalists caught up with him in 2019.
First he went into hiding and was finally arrested by the police at Athens airport when he tried to travel on with a false passport.
In Israel, he is accused of offenses from 2010 and 2011, which have nothing to do with his cheating on women.
He was
sentenced to 15 months in prison but released after five months for good behavior
.
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: "Tiger King": Netflix is said to have concealed many horrific details.
Today Hayut is said to live in Israel and be with a model, as reported by the British portal
Mirror
.
According to Variety
, he is said to have had 200,000 followers
on a private Instagram account that has since been deleted .
In an Instagram story, he is said to have declared that he wanted to tell his version of the story.
According to the Netflix documentary, the "Tinder swindler" is said to have
been back on the dating platform
.
"We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm that Simon Leviev
is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases ,"
Tinder
said
reported.
It remains to be seen whether Hayut will still be prosecuted for his frauds against the women.
According to the
Spiegel
report from 2020, there was no extradition request, and the money flows were difficult to understand.
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