Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV And Film, Netflix
Lucy Devine
If you've been bingeing Netflix this weekend, you might have watched gripping new series, The Tinder Swindler which tells the story of Shimon Hayut (also known as Simon Leviev) - an Israeli conman who used Tinder to trick women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Following the release of the doc, Shimon - who is living as a free man - deleted his Instagram account. But he had some parting words before he logged off.
Before deleting the social media account, he thanked some followers for their 'support' before adding: “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.
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"... Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”
The film explores how Hayut posed as a billionaire's son on Tinder to defraud women out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It hears from three of his victims - Cecilie Fjellhoy, who was in a relationship with Hayut and gave him around $200,000 (£148,000) in savings and bank loans; Pernilla Sjoholm, who was a close friend of Hayut's - and is still paying off the debts accrued during their friendship - and Ayleen Charlotte, who had been with Hayut for 14 months when she read a newspaper article revealing his true identity.
She later 'swindled the Swindler' after selling his designer clothes online, in a bid to make back some of the money she had given him.
Using the name "Simon Leviev", Hayut would impress women who he matched with on Tinder with extravagant dinners and private jets, before tricking them into giving him thousands.
It’s believed that Hayut has conned women globally out of at least $10m (£7.4m).
In June 2019, he was arrested in Greece for using a false passport. Hayut - who had previously served a two-year sentence for conning three women in 2015 - was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $43,289 (£32,062) in December 2019, but was released after five months.
He appears to have since returned to his lavish lifestyle.