Just before St. ValentineThe real Netflix crime documentary The Tinder Swindler is here to show one of the best examples of online dating got confused.
The Tinder Rogue, now streaming on netflixtells the story of a man named Simon Leviev (born Shimon Hayut), who used online dating a platform to meet women, entice them with a lavish lifestyle on real private jets and luxury hotels (and a fictitious fake identity involving the son of the CEO of a diamond company) and ultimately trick them into giving him money through credit cards and loans.
Online romantic scams are not uncommon. In September, the FBI announced that its Internet Crime Complaints Center received more than 1,800 reports of online love fraud in 2021 alone. These complaints represent a loss of about $ 133.4 million for fraudsters.
Realizing that Hayut is a fraud and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the three women involved in the documentary – Cecily Fielhoy, Pernilla Schoholm and Eileen Charlotte – are trying to end Hayut’s scams by working with law enforcement and journalists from a long time ago. a Norwegian newspaper called VG.
Here’s an update for Fjellhøy, Sjoholm, Charlotte and Hayut.
Shimon Hayut / Simon Leviev
The documentary reports that after being arrested by Interpol in July 2019, Hayut was sentenced to 15 months in prison for crimes committed in Israel. However, he lasted only five months and was released due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After his release, the documentary said, Hayut launched a website offering business advice, and from his social media accounts, it appears he was not hurt for the money. He was even seen again on Tinder. However, this is no longer the case. The dating app said it had banned Hayut from its platform.
“We have conducted internal investigations and we can confirm that Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his well-known pseudonyms,” a statement from Tinder said. The Independent reported on Monday that Hayut had deleted his Instagram account. The documentary suggests that Hayut managed to defraud about $ 10 million from people around the world.
Hayut was not available for comment.
Cecily Fielhoi, Pernilla Schoholm and Eileen Charlotte
The documentary showed how long Cecily Fielhoy, Pernilla Schoholm and Eileen Charlotte worked, working with journalists and law enforcement to capture Hayut and ideally prevent him from taking advantage of other women. At the end of The Tinder Swindler, the trio’s latest update was that they were still trying to pay off their debts. In an interview with Britain’s GQ, Schoholm said he was bankrupt and living with his mother. Over the weekend, all three created a GoFundMe page to raise £ 600,000 ($ 811,206).
“The last few days have been a whirlwind and the three of us (Eileen, Pernilla and Cecily) have been completely shocked and overwhelmed by the flow of compassion and support from all,” they wrote in a description of the fundraising campaign. “All we want is our life back.”