‘The Tinder Swindler’ is a bonkers documentary with some incredible twists
There are some spoilers here, including what Simon is doing now
I was scared to watch The Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler. It ended up being fascinating, horrifying and a study in modern courtship. I somewhat identified with the women who got scammed and who were brave enough to go public with their stories. While I like to think that there’s no way I would lend a date money, it does give you sympathy for the victims. Israeli grifter “Simon Leviev” (not his real name), spends months grooming women he meets on Tinder. He takes them on private planes and to exclusive restaurants around the world where all the staff know him. He wears designer clothes, drives supercars, stays in the best hotels and flies around the world frequently. He’s attractive, charming and seemingly rich beyond belief. In reality he’s using victim’s money to woo other women, rinse and repeat. People Magazine has more about this documentary and case, and I’m only excerpting the basics. I also am not mentioning my favorite parts because I want to give you a chance to watch it.
Titled The Tinder Swindler, the two-hour film that premiered on Feb. 2 chronicles the real-life events of a serial fraudster who conned an estimated 10 million dollars out of women he attracted on the popular dating app, Tinder.
Though he disguised himself under various aliases, the swindler is widely recognized as Simon Leviev, who claimed he worked in a dangerous diamond business and was the son of billionaire Israeli diamond oligarch Lev Leviev.
The scandal-based documentary is recounted through shocking, yet heartbreaking stories told by [some] of the many women who fell victim to the Tinder trickster.
If you want to know more about Simon and what consequences he’s faced, you can read People’s full writeup. Buzzfeed has even more facts about him. Without giving too much away, I want more justice for these women. Leviev and his co-conspirators should be paying much more for their crimes. I’m not going to say more than that as this was just released and a lot of you haven’t watched it yet.
Leviev has been banned from Tinder, but how long did it take?
Leviev’s Instagram is now private, however it was active all weekend up until Sunday. He was posting videos and photos to his stories from private planes, in helicopters and in big conference rooms. That could have been old content, but I doubt it. I hope someone was downloading and cataloging his social media for a future case. He also posted these messages on Friday and Sunday.
photos via Instagram and credit Netflix
