Following on from Netflix’s Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman comes a new documentary, this time looking at another conman, Shimon Hayut.
Hayut used the dating app, Tinder, to pose as a billionaire named Simon Leviev and duped several women out of hundreds and thousands of dollars by claiming he needed the money to protect his safety due to his risky line of work.
The Tinder Swindler sees three of Hayut’s victims, Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte, coming together to tell their stories in a bid to bring him down. And what they each reveal is truly mind-blowing.
In the two-hour-long film, the three women tell identical accounts of how they met Hayut under the guise of Simon Leviev on Tinder.
Like something out of a fairytale, Shimon wooed these women with private jets, bouquets of flowers, lavish trips and dates, before asking them for money, as he claimed his safety had been jeopardised and couldn’t have any transactions traced back to him. Using money from one woman to fund his expensive escapades with another, Hayut was able to keep up his lifestyle.
!["CECILIE]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/02/Cecilie-Fjellhoy-9bd5a8a.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Cecilie-Fjellhoy\"")
And while his life was getting better, the lives of the women he met were only getting worse, as they found themselves in hundreds and thousands of debt, while they waited for the money Shimon had “promised” he’d return to them.
Hearing how Shimon conned these women into taking out $200,000 credit cards and loans, may have viewers questioning how they were able to be coerced in this way, but the Tinder Swindler shows how Shimon manipulated these women by creating a facade, which saw him employing a team of bodyguards, and even bringing along a woman who claimed to be the mother of his child and convinced another woman that he was a “good man”.
Brought to you from the producers of Don’t F**k with Cats, the film shows how Shimon was able to pull the wool over their eyes and get them on his side. Using shocking tactics, such as faking an attack on himself and staff, he put fear into these women and made them believe their lives were in danger, prompting them to cash out more and more money. And when they questioned his lifestyle, like Cecilie did, he dropped them.
It’s at this point in the documentary where all the stories come together, and both Cecilie and Pernilla – who also met Leviev on Tinder, but decided to stay as friends – realise that they’ve in fact been defrauded.
!["PERNILLA]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/02/PERNILLA-SJÖHOLM--162d414.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"PERNILLA-SJÖHOLM-\"")
From here onwards, the tables turn and The Tinder Swindler shows how these women pulled themselves out of incredibly fragile places in a bid to “stop” Shimon from conning another victim. It portrays their acts of bravery to bring a man, who in reality they knew nothing about, to justice. It’s their courage and effort that allows for Shimon’s face to be printed in a newspaper, so that others can learn who he really is.
Despite all the evidence, the Tinder Swindler reveals how Cecilie and Pernilla are not free from victim-blaming, as they’re mocked or called names such as “gold-digger” for trusting a man like Hayut, which may be triggering to some viewers.
But what is perhaps most satisfying about The Tinder Swindler is when we meet Ayleen Charlotte, Hayut’s then-long-term girlfriend, who started dated him way before Cecilie and Pernilla came into the picture and is still in a relationship with him at the time of the big “Tinder Swindler” article going public.
!["Ayleen]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/02/Ayleen-Charlotte-229381e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Ayleen-Charlotte\"")
Charlotte seeks revenge on him to get back some of the money she gave him, claimed to be an estimated $140,000, and also works with the police, eventually leading to his arrest in 2019. While Charlotte didn’t get back anywhere near the money she’d given Hayut, it’s interesting to see Hayut being played at what is essentially his own game. From a “prince of diamonds”, he becomes a “homeless king” staying in hostels, eating leftovers and begging the very woman who he’d previously stolen from.
Karma has definitely been served in this instance. Although it’s very short-lived.
Hayut was released after just five months in jail and currently lives in Israel as a free man. According to the documentary, he’s now in a relationship with an Israeli model, and appears to be back to living his usual lavish lifestyle. Netflix contacted Hayut to appear in the documentary, and he sent them a voice note, threatening to sue for defamation.
The three women he defrauded on the other hand, are still paying back their debts, and he denies all allegations against him.
This conclusion brings the doc to somewhat of an unfulfilling ending.
What the Tinder Swindler does do, however, is opens our eyes to a crime, which could happen to anyone. It gives a voice to the three women who were hurt and provides a small glimmer of hope that their story may just protect one person from the experiences they had to go through. That’s got to count for something!
The Tinder Swindler arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 2nd February. Read our guide to the best series on Netflix.
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