Culture Pick: Netflix’s ‘Tinder Swindler’ Examines the Dangers of Online Dating
Private jets, lavish dinners and star-studded hotels teeming with celebrities sound like the stuff of a whirlwind fairytale romance — and the perfect lure.
Netflix’s New True Crime Documentary “rogue tindertakes audiences on a luxurious journey across Europe to meet a master con man who presents himself on Tinder as a wealthy eligible bachelor looking for love.
Director Felicity Morris, the producer behind Netflix’s “Don’t fuck with cats,” tells the story of Shimon Hayouta 31-year-old man who has been flying under the radar of law enforcement for nearly a decade and luring women into his Ponzi scheme with empty promises of fast cars, glamorous parties and luxury vacations.
According to FBI website, Ponzi schemes promise high financial returns or dividends not available through traditional investments. They are a cyclical, recurring type of fraud in which a new investor’s money is used to pay off previous investors.
Hayut used dozens of aliases, spinning elaborate stories about being targeted by organized crime groups to convince his girlfriends to set up lines of credit for him under their own names. Once Hayut gained access to their bank accounts, he disappeared, leaving one woman at the mercy of angry creditors as he moved on to the next.
In the documentary, Hayut posing as a billionaire under the pseudonym of Simon Leviev, claiming to be the son of the billionaire diamond tycoon Lev Leviev.
According to SubwayHayout He is estimated to have stolen $10 million from women around the world as he moved from one to another, using their money to fund his jet-setting lifestyle.
The documentary follows Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte, three of Hayut’s victims who quickly found themselves drowning in a tumultuous tsunami of lies and debt.
During Hayut’s time as Simon Leviev he frequented Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, where he met Fjellhøy, SjohHolm and Charlotte, respectively.
Hayut used fear to control his unsuspecting girlfriends after forming relationships with them, convincing them that they needed to support Hayut financially so he could “travel in secret” to stay safe from hitmen and competitors in the diamond industry.
“I didn’t have a big circle of friendship, and he gave me the attention I needed,” Fjellhøy said in the documentary.
The documentary features hundreds of photographs, text and voice memos from Hayut, who would send pictures of his alleged bodyguard covered in fake blood to gain the victim’s trust and make them believe he was in danger because his “enemies” were tracking the use of his credit card.
Hayut’s well-traveled lifestyle made it difficult for federal agents to track his expenses and movements.
Fjellhøy reportedly loaned Hayut $350,000 during their relationship, believing he could repay her due to the expensive lifestyle she witnessed. Fjellhøy did not know that her vacations and appointments were paid for by the last victim, and that she would pay the bills of the next woman Hayut treated.
“I felt I was supporting him,” Fjellhøy told CBS News. “And it’s hard when everyone says, ‘Oh, if someone had asked me to help them, I would have run the other way.’ But what kind of person would I be?
Upon discovering Hayut’s scheme and her crushing debt, Fjellhøy’s mental health deteriorated and checked herself into an inpatient facility due to the immense financial stress she was facing.
Hayut’s manipulation tactics were calculated to the point that he defrauded several of his victims without having to enter into a romantic relationship with them, such as SjohHolm. sjohHolm considered Hayut a close friend and gave him over $45,000, which he spent on lavish dinners and plane tickets.
Hayut is currently traveling the world as a free man despite numerous allegations of financial and emotional abuse from women around the world.
Hayut, who fled Israel in 2017, was extradited to the country in October 2019. He was released from prison early in May 2020 after serving just five months of his 15-month sentence for several fraud-related offences.
He opened up to the media and his social media followers after the documentary’s release to share his side of the story, alleging the entire documentary was bogus.
“In truth, it was a made-up movie,” Hayut said in an interview with birmingham live. “I was just a single guy who wanted to meet girls on Tinder.”
While Hayut has been permanently banned from Tinder, he allegedly charges his fans over $200 on Cameoa website where fans can pay to receive a personalized video message from their favorite celebrities.
As Hayut continues to flaunt his alleged wealth and new girlfriend on social media, his countless victims continue to drag themselves out of the crippling debt he pushed them into.
“The only thing we can do is show his face”, Sjohholm said in the documentary. “If people know who he is and recognize his face, he can’t do that anymore.”
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