Tinder Swindler To Get Own Dating Show? When Pop Culture Makes Idols Out Of Villains

After allegedly looting unsuspecting women of millions through dating apps, notorious Tinder Swindler aka Simon Leviev reportedly has a new project up his sleeve. Various reports have emerged that the scammer is on the road to launching a full-blown celebrity career, which will see him star in his own dating show. This update comes amid the sensational popularity of a recently released namesake documentary centred around his exploits in which women claiming to be his targets speak out.

Leviev, 31, hails from Israel where he has been convicted of multiple crimes related to financial fraud. His birth name is Shimon Hayut but he is famous by the Leviev title he used between 2017 and 2019 to cheat women in Europe of, reports suggest, at least $10 million.

Posing as the son of real-life diamond mogul Lev Leviev, the conman met women through dating app Tinder. He took them out on lavish outings and forged a romantic relationship before selling them a story about being in trouble and asking them for money. More about Leviev here.

A documentary for Netflix, called The Tinder Swindler, premiered on February 2. Directed by Felicity Morris, the film tells the women's side of the story about being cheated.

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According to a report this week by E! News, Leviev is working on a dating show and is being backed by producer Gina Rodriguez, who is known for work on Mama June: From Hot to Not. Certain other reports also suggest Leviev could be well on his way to writing a book and leading a podcast as well.

Leviev's crimes of conning women through dating apps were covered extensively by publications like The Times of Israel at the time. Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang's report on the case popularised the name Tinder Swindler for Leviev. Appearing on media channels, the women whose stories have come forth on the documentary said they are still struggling to repay the debts Leviev left them with.

Though Leviev has served jail time for fraud crimes, he has not been convicted of the claims women have made about his dating app Ponzi scheme.

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Rather expectedly, audiences are taken in not just with the Netflix documentary, but also with the character of Leviev. 'The man, the myth, the legend.' Between all the bashing he is getting as well as awe he is inspiring in people marvelling at how he pulled off his schemes, Leviev is winning. His soaring popularity is doing the job of eulogising him well.

It leads one to wonder just how naturally we make demigods out of problematic people.

The recognition being afforded to criminals, through the skyrocketing success of genres like true crime on OTT platforms, is turning their bad press into good press. Convicted figures like Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and Joe Exotic have achieved cult status in recent times owing to shows televised on their lives. While the larger majority of this club is men, there are some women too, leading with fraudster Anna Sorokin.

Far be it from me to suggest restrictions on true crime productions, as a hungry consumer of the genre myself. But what needs introspection is if we can afford to lose our prudence in differentiating right from wrong when watching dramatised versions of real-life crime. Can we let the surreal measure of criminal events blinker our better judgments?

Views expressed are the author's own.