Simon Leviev: The Conman Who Stole Millions From Women Through A Dating App

Who is Simon Leviev: Posing as the son of a diamond billionaire, Simon Leviev conned women of millions through a dating app. This surreal story is the subject of a new documentary that released this year on OTT, titled The Tinder Swindler. Tracing his insidious schemes of honey trapping unsuspecting women and using their attractions to defraud them, the show gives a dark look into a sophisticated scam orchestrated by one man.

An instant hit on Netflix since its release this week, The Tinder Swindler directed by Felicity Morris is centred around the true experiences of women who had the misfortune of coming in contact with Leviev.

Or rather with a man who called himself Leviev. The name turned out to be an alias Shimon Hayut used to cheat his targets.

He told the women he matched with on dating app Tinder that he was the son of Lev Leviev, a real-life Israeli diamond mogul and businessman. Using this fabricated story, he strung women into friendships and relationships before giving them some cock-and-bull about his life being in danger and thus, imploring his targets to send him large sums of money.

Further revelations showed he had assumed the character of a pilot, a Mossad agent, an airline heir and several other identities to dupe people, including entire families.

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Know Who Is Simon Leviev And Where He Is Now

Hailing from Israel, Shimon Hayut aka Simon Leviev is reportedly a repeat offender and has been arrested multiple times on fraud charges. According to The Israel Times, Leviev fled his country in 2017 to avoid action against him for previous charges related to cheating and stealing. A joint operation by Interpol and Israel Police led to his extradition back to Israel in 2019.

Between that period, Leviev reportedly carried out the crimes in Europe as detailed in The Tinder Swindler. The show is named after the moniker he was given after his fraudulent activities became public in 2019. The experiences of one woman, Cecilie Fjellhøy, who believed to have developed a romantic relationship with Leviev before he conned her of over $200,000, have been especially spotlighted in the almost two-hour-long film.

Leviev was found guilty of fraud charges in Israel following his extradition and was sentenced to 15 months in prison in December 2019. He served only five months and was given an early release.

As per reports, Leviev lives as a free man today. An Instagram account believed to be his boasts of over two lakh followers and actively flaunts pictures of Leviev enjoying a lavish lifestyle.