fbpx

Friday 29th of March 2024

Nairobi, Kenya

Simon Leviev, Subject Of Netflix’s ‘Tinder Swindler,’ Banned From Dating Apps

Posted On : February 9, 2022

Fashion Police

0

Tinder released a new set of guidelines on how to spot a scammer and what not to do while dating online but did not mention Leviev or the documentary.

Simon Leviev, the subject of Netflix’s new documentary “The Tinder Swindler,” was banned from dating apps like Tinder and Hinge after the filmmakers alleged he scammed several women for an estimated total of $10 million.

“The Tinder Swindler” follows three women who said they were conned by Leviev, an Israeli man they all separately met on Tinder sometime between 2018 and 2019.

In the documentary, the women alleged that Leviev whose real name is Shimon Hayut claimed he was the son of a wealthy tycoon, took them out on extravagant dates, and started relationships with them before eventually scamming them out large sums of money.

At the time of its release on Feb. 2, “The Tinder Swindler” said Hayut was back on Tinder a statement that the company denied in a statement to NBC News.

“We banned Simon Leviev and any of his known aliases as soon as the story of his actions became public in 2019,” a Tinder spokeswoman said.

“In the lead up to the release of the documentary, we conducted additional internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is not active on Tinder under any of his known aliases.”

Hayut was also banned from using dating sites and apps under Match Group Inc, including Match.com, Plenty of Fish, and OkCupid, she said.

Attempts to reach Netflix and Hayut were unsuccessful on Tuesday.

Hayut did not appear in the documentary but a voice message the filmmakers said he sent to them was included in the film.

“I will proceed with the lawsuit against you for defamation and lies and, you know, that everything is based, basically, on a lie. And that’s it, this is how it’s gonna be,” Hayut said in the voice message.

On Feb. 1, a day before the documentary was released, Tinder published a set of new guidelines titled, “Romance Scams: How to Protect Yourself Online.”

The fact sheet did not mention Hayut or the documentary, but it included tips on how to identify a scammer and what not to do while dating online.

In July 2019, Hayut was arrested in Greece and extradited back to Israel, where he was convicted of four fraud charges and ordered to compensate his victims a total of more than $43,000, the Times of Israel reported. He was released after only serving five months of his 15-month sentence.

Since his release in May 2020, Hayut has lived as a free man and regularly posted on his Instagram account, which amassed more than 100,000 followers, according to the Times of Israel.

His Instagram account was deleted as of Tuesday morning.

Content courtesy of NBC News & NFH Digital Team

Fashion Police

Comments

Discover more from NFH - African Fashion

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading