When Netflix dropped The Tinder Swindler, I checked out the trailer to see what it was all about; I saw it was a documentary, so I moved on.
But, it started trending on Social Media, and everyone started talking about it, so I decided to give it a try.
I’m not one for Documentaries, but Netflix made me love Mockumentaries (Death to 2020, The History of Swear Words, and Death to 2021 are my best to date).
Now, The Tinder Swindler isn’t a mockumentary (it’s based on real events and a probably bipolar fraudster), but it got me hooked.
This Netflix true-crime documentary tells the story of Simon Leviev (real name Shimon Hayut) and his victims. Simon posed as the son of a billionaire on Tinder to meet women and lure them with his extravagant lifestyle.
First dates were at five-star hotels and private jets.
Simon claimed to be the CEO of a diamond company and conned women into giving him money through loans and credit cards. Reports show he scammed dozens of people for an estimated $10 million.
It turned out Simon didn’t scam only women. When reporters started digging into his past, they discovered more scams involving different people. But he mainly targeted women.
Maybe it was because he could easily manipulate them or that he could threaten them.
Cecilie, Pernilla, and Ayleen are three of Simon’s victims featured in the documentary. Even though it took them losing large sums of money, and in Cecilie’s case, destroying her credit score, the women finally sounded the alarm on Simon.
Simon was arrested and sentenced but spent only five months in prison (thanks to Covid and overcrowding).
Online romance scams are pretty common these days, so it’s funny to see people falling for them. That being said, I’m never one to shame the victim. No one deserves to go through so much pain.
Simon could have used some kind of Israeli jazz on his victims for all we know. Who knows?
But, I just have to say it, how can someone take huge loans from not one, not two, but nine different companies? All in the name of love?
Once someone starts asking you for large sums of money a month into dating, that’s a Big Ole Red Flag.
If these women were Nigerians, their parents would definitely drag them to church for deliverance. The pastor would flog out every spirit of ignorance and stupidity from them.
It was the perfect Ponzi scheme – using one woman’s money to dazzle the next. Some might even say Simon’s plan was almost brilliant if it wasn’t so terrible what he was doing to his victims.
Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler shows how romance scams happen and will probably continue to happen for a long time to come because humans are desperate to find love.
