Tinder is one of the most popular applications today, for many people a basic social network, where you can meet people from all over the world, with a simple swipe on the screen, you can get a match.
With this premise is how this story “The Tinder Swindler” begins, which tells us the story of “Simon Leviev” a young millionaire heir to his family’s diamond empire. Who is traveling through Europe and Tinder is looking for who can be his life partner.
But this story is narrated in a documentary style because our real protagonists are Cecilie Fjellhøy(@cecilie_), Pernilla Sjöholm(@pernillaelisabeths) , and Ayleen Charlotte (@ayleencharlott), three victims of this scammer. They, without knowing each other, maintain a contact/relationship with Simon at the same time.
A lavish lifestyle, a private jet, and nearly 100,000 Instagram followers seemed like enough material to initially trust him and then overlook certain aspects of his life that might have raised red flags.
His strategy to deceive his victims was traced and typical of a Ponzi scheme: when they were already together, there would come a time when he told the woman on duty that he had suffered a violent attack with his guard and asked them to help him with money. . All with the excuse that he could not use his accounts because he was in danger due to the business in which he operates.
The Norwegian newspaper VG (@vgnett) uncovered the case at the beginning of 2019 in an exhaustive article titled The Tinder swindler. That investigation – developed for half a year and carried out between three journalists and an editor – revealed that Simon Leviev was just one of the names that Shimon Hayut had assumed, exposed as a swindler since he was a teenager and persecuted for different crimes in different parts of Europe. Currently he does not have social networks, because he deleted them after the popularity of the movie
His fraud is the focus of the Netflix feature film directed by Felicity Morris (@felicityhmorri)
“At just under two hours, it doesn’t take longer than necessary. It is short, snappy and succinct. It also fits effortlessly into everything we look for in a document like this: an account of the crime and the investigation, non-distracting recreations, and an engaging tone” Paste Magazine agreed. He even anticipates that it can be transformed into a “cult classic”.
