Simon Leviev a.k.a. The Tinder Swindler Stole More Than 10 Million Dollars From His Victims

"He’s a professional, he does this for a living. Everything is a lie. He’s not a prince of diamonds, son of a billionaire.’ The man I love was never real, he faked everything. It was horrible, because in a sense, I still loved him — or the person I thought he was …," says Cecilie Fjellhøy in the new film The Tinder Swindler, which is becoming a hit on Netflix these days.

A few years ago, Cecilie experienced a day that changed her life forever as she was searching for the husband of her dreams on Tinder. Instead of a prince on a white horse, she came across the Israeli Simon Leviev. The first date included a trip on a private plane, a Rolls-Royce ride, and dinner at the most expensive restaurants. "It was a full package for me," she recalls.

It only had one glitch. Within a few weeks of intense meetings and conversations, he managed to get more than $250,000 out of her. How is it possible, you ask? She fell in love with him. And she was far from being the only one because this imposter was actively raising more than $10 million from dozens of naive women this way.

It's like ordering the film Catch Me, If You Can from Wish.com

Netflix has recently started pouring out documents that tell the stories of amateur or professional fraudsters.

As we watched the film, we were constantly reminded of a certain someone, which you will probably notice as well. The imposter Simon Leviev loved flying, liked taking pictures in the cockpit, spent the stolen money on private jet flights, and especially liked issuing blank and fake checks to women.

"Yo, it's Frank Abagnale from Wish," we laughed as we reminisced over the film Catch Me, If You Can with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.

However, we gotta give it up to Leviev, because Frank Abagnale fled the police at a time when there was no Internet, and US security forces were not nearly as interconnected and informed as today's authorities. Over the years, Simon has been able to trick dozens of women in multiple European countries, yet the police haven;t been to get a hold of him.

I was attacked, take a $50,000 loan and send me cash

"We're all looking for that diamond in a rough. And of course, you google everyone you go on a date with. Simon Leviev, son of a billionaire. This looks like fun, let's swipe right, shall we?" says Pernilla Sjoholm, who got tricked by Leviev.

She, too, fell victim to a man who was able to fake his identity on the Internet and give the impression that he was a rich heir to the diamond empire. It wasn't at all complicated either. Leviev created a couple of fake sites, changed his name to the surname of the diamond mogul, and the women on Tinder didn't need much more than that. Let's enjoy.

At the beginning of the film, when the women tell each other how impressed they were by Simon taking them on private jet trips and paying for luxurious dinners, you can't help but think that these women simply got punished for their behavior.

So far, you can find the word gold digger in every second review of The Tinder Swindler, where people condemn the victims for getting caught in the initial glimpse of luxury. But human emotions work in mysterious ways. A short-term eclipse of the mind can also lead to lifetime debt.

When you fly on a trip with a stranger on a first date

The Tinder Swindler is a documentary that will make you think from the very start. The introductory narration of both Cecilia Fjellhøy and Pernille Sjoholm, will give you an immediate impression of a story of a genius con-man who has thought every step he takes through to the very last detail.

At the beginning of the film, the creators try to tackle the myth of the prince on the white horse. According to them, all women are waiting for this. As if every woman on Tinder was just waiting for a rich man with photos of planes and beaches.

"It's dangerous, you can get kidnapped!" Cecilia's friend wrote in a group chat, when she announced that she was about to get on a private plane to Bulgaria with a man she had met through Tinder after an hour-long coffee date with him at a five-star hotel. As if she has lost her rational perception of reality, she only replied "yolo" to her friends and flew away.

The Tinder Swindler gives the impression that everyone on Tinder today is looking to secure their future with a rich partner. In the beginning, this can cause the viewer a dilemma as to whether the film is actually worth watching when only a few women get caught up in the desire for money. However, this is not the case. And the curiosity about how Simon will end up only grows stronger.

In fact, there were no gold diggers

It's not a matter of the deceived women being gold diggers. If you look at the types of women that Simon Leviev chose, they were usually not girls from modest circumstances, but quite the opposite. He hunted in Scandinavia, England and Germany among women who were able to take care of themselves without having to date the alleged son of a billionaire.

This fact suited Leviev because he needed to withdraw money from it. According to journalists from the Norwegian daily VG, Simon Leviev has created a pyramid scheme. He fooled one woman, whose money he used to pay for another woman's experiences, she paid for the next one's luxury, and it went on and on.

As the film explains, Simon's scams were difficult for the local police to track down. There was nothing to investigate because the fraudster was constantly flying between countries and his name was never on his credit cards or invoices. Instead, it was always the name of the deceived women.

Everything worked out great for him until he got stuck near PragueWhen he met a woman on Tinder, had her wrapped around his finger, he'd tell her he had a dangerous profession. He was either the heir to the diamond empire, an Israeli secret service agent, a businessman, or a soldier. However, he was in constant danger. Someone was watching him or wanted to kill him right away.

Once he gained the women's trust, over time, he began to frighten them. He would say that he almost died, someone wanted to stab him and injured his bodyguard, and so forth. Although he's a billionaire, he must disappear from the enemy, so he needs them to set up a credit card in ther name and give him access to it. None of the women doubted that such a rich man would repay them as soon as possible.

And just like that, he suddenly had access to tens of thousands of euros without any strings attached, and it was the naive women who were in debt. Women like Cecilia even took out several loans in order to send Simon money or bring him cash by plane. While they were arranging the loans, he sat in a jacuzzi on Mykonos with a Russian model.

This is how he fled between the lands, withdrawing money from women until the last drop. Cecilie and Pernille realized what was happening and set out to hunt him down. In the film, you'll see how the hunt went down in Prague and Greece.

What does the Tinder app say about the whole series of scams?

The entire story sounds a bit strange because Tinder itself did not make any statement for the documentary. However, only a fraction of the story takes place on their platform. The well-known dating app only facilitates the initial chit-chat between the fraudster and the victims.

These days you can indeed create a false identity on Tinder quite easily. Especially between 2015 and 2018, when Simon was most active, there was no doubt about that. However, the creators didn't even mention that if the dating application paid more attention to safety and prevention, the victims might never have met Leviev in the first place.

Tinder's statement about the film sounds quite pathetic. "We have conducted an internal investigation and can confirm that Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known identities," the app said. Great, women have nothing to worry about if you haven't found any of his familiar identities. Maybe it's enough to make a new one again.

Is it worth spending almost two hours on The Tinder Swindler?

The Tinder Swindler is not a bad documentary. It should be added, however, that Netflix has already produced much more compelling and totally bingeworthy documentaries about fraudsters and serial killers.

The length of the film itself is still a mystery to us. The filmmakers, led by producer Felicity Morris, who, by the way, was also behind the successful series Don't F ** k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, have made a 1-hour, 54-minute piece. Simon Leviev's story could have been easily told in under an an hour.

We enjoyed the fact that the story is told through interviews with affected women, intertwined with a lot of real news and voice messages from WhatsApp.

Hearing the delusions that Simon Leviev told adds authenticity to the film. However, at times, it makes the film a bit more dull. We also had to fast forward through a few scenes, when the creators tried to drag on the dramatic climax for too long.

A document that'll teach you an important lessonThe Tinder Swindler is definitely a safe choice for the upcoming winter evenings. If you're taken, you can get a good laugh with your other half, and if you're single, you might learn an important lesson.

Few deserve a $250,000 loan, even if they love their partner more than anything. Eventually, you'll find out that Simon Leviev, despite everything, lives a better life today than all of his victims combined.