The story of several women who fell in love with a conman who swindled them out of large sums of cash
By: i24News & TJVNews.com
“The Tinder Swindler,” is the latest Netflix hit about Israeli conman Shimon Hayut, who deceived and exploited women he met on the dating app.
The popular doc, which was released last week on the streaming platform, follows the story of a group of women who were conned out of millions of dollars by a user on a dating app to fund his lifestyle.
Shimon Hayut was estimated to have stolen $10million (£7.4million) from a number of victims, going under the alias of Simon Leviev and gaining trust under the premise of expensive dates.
Sitting at #2 of Israel’s Top 10 on Netflix, the true-crime documentary tells the story of several women who fell in love with and financially supported Hayut, who acted under the alias of Simon Leviev, son of Israeli Russian diamond tycoon Lev Leviev.
Hayut, now known to be the son of El Al Airlines chief Rabbi Yohanan Hayut, would meet women on Tinder–mostly Scandinavian–and build long-distance relationships to eventually swindle them out of large sums of money.
He would first give the women lavish experiences, staying in five-star hotels, eating at fancy restaurants, and flying in private jets.
After several weeks of being a “perfect boyfriend,” Hayut would ask to borrow money because of the situation he found himself in the dangerous world of diamond dealing.
He would coerce the women by sending photos of bloody clothes or his injured bodyguard in the back of an ambulance.
Given his previous spending and apparently luxurious lifestyle, the women believed him and sent money, many times through bank loans.
Hayut was able to develop a complex Ponzi scheme in which he would spend hundreds of thousands of money that he swindled from a previous woman on his current victim.
Over the years, the series estimated that Hayut stole $10 million.
Some of the women eventually discovered Hayut’s deception and brought their stories to investigative journalists.
After spending two years in a Finnish prison, Hayut was returned to Israel where he was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
After five months, though, he was released in May 2020 and currently lives as a free man.
Hayut recently posted a message on his Instagram account, before deleting it, writing: “Thank you for all your support.
“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. Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”
