The Tinder Swindler on Netflix: Who really is Simon Leviev and where is he now?

The Tinder Swindler has just been released on Netflix, and the true crime documentary tells the jaw-dropping story of one man who posed as a billionaire heir on the app and used this to con women out of hundreds of thousands, all over the world. The man was called Shimon Hayut, and he changed his name to Simon Leviev to pull off his scam.

He seduced women all over the world by posing as a millionaire and treating them to luxury gifts and a fancy lifestyle. But it wasn’t all it seemed, and Shimon took the life savings from the women he met on Tinder. Here’s exactly who Shimon Hayut / Simon Leviev is, and where he is now.

The Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut changed his name and posed as Simon Leviev

The Tinder Swindler follows 31-year-old Israeli fraudster, Shimon Hayut. The conman went by the name Simon Leviev – claiming he was the son of billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev. Lev Leviev is an Israeli businessman, philanthropist and investor with a net worth of $1.5billion. The so-called “King of Diamonds” has five children, none of which are called Simon.

Shimon called himself the “Prince of Diamonds” and lured the women to open up huge lines of credit which he would use to fund his lavish and luxury lifestyle. He would say he needed the cash as threats had been made against him and his life depended on it and would then disappear. He legally changed his name and hired staff, including assistants and a bodyguard, to make his story seem legit. Shimon would impress the women he met on the app with presents and trips away, using the money he had conned from other women.

In reality, Simon Leviev was Shimon Hayut, who has an already convicted conman. He had previously served two years in Finnish prison for defrauding several women in order to fund his private jets, luxury holidays and love of Ferraris. Shimon had spent two years in the Finnish jail from 2015, but he fled to Israel in 2017 to avoid trial for other fraud related offences. It was in 2018 when he started going by the name Simon Leviev and speaking to women on Tinder.

Where is Simon Leviev now?

After everything, Simon Leviev (real name Shimon Hayut) is now 33 and living as a free man. The fake billionaire was captured in June 2019 – he had been on the run when he was found using a fake passport in Greece. He was convicted again and sentenced to 15 months in prison. As well as his sentence, he was made to pay victims NIS 150,000 [Israeli currency] which equals around £35,000 or $43,000.

Simon was released early after serving just five months of his sentence. It’s thought his release was down to a programme aimed at reducing the prison population amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When he was out of prison, he was accused of lying even further, this time about being a medic in order to get an early vaccine dose. In The Times of Israel he said: “I am not someone who waits in line or at places. With all due respect, I will not sit and wait three to four hours. I am not someone who waits and no one can say a word about it.”

There is an an Instagram account under the handle @simon_leviev_official with a picture of him as the profile icon, and it currently has 97.6k followers – it’s set to private. It appears to be active, and the Netflix documentary suggests it does still belong to Simon and he uses it to splash his cash. He has also launched a website, offering business advice for a fee. The website, simonlevievonline, states he has “made it all on his own” to become a “wealthy businessman”.

The Netflix documentary says Simon is also said to have been back on Tinder since his release, but is currently dating an Israeli model. In a statement to The Tab, Tinder said: “We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases.” When Netflix contacted Simon to take part in the film, he said he would file a lawsuit.

The Tinder Swindler is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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• Inside the Instagram account which belongs to the notorious Tinder Swindler

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• Who is The Tinder Swindler’s new girlfriend? The Israeli model Simon Leviev is now dating