The Tinder Swindler: Who is Shimon Hayut and Where is he Now?

Online subscription-based streaming service Netflix has come up with one more true-crime documentary – “The Tinder Swindler” that is based on the crimes committed by conman Shimon Hayut.

In 2019, he was arrested for deceiving women on the dating app Tinder. He used to pose as a billionaire and defrauded women of huge amounts of money (hundreds and thousands of dollars).

Three such women who were deceived by Hayut came together to share their experiences in the to-be-released Netflix documentary.

They matched and fell in love. That's when their dream man became their worst nightmare — so these three women teamed up to take down the man who conned them.

The Tinder Swindler — an incredible true crime documentary — premieres February 2 pic.twitter.com/j38mI3OATD

— Netflix (@netflix) January 11, 2022

Well, if you have been curious to find out who is Shimon Hayut and where is he now, you are there at the right place as we have shared the details here. Read on!

Wondering who is Shimon Hayut?

As shared by Radio Times, Shimon Hayut is a 31-year-old common man. He acted to be a billionaire named Simon Leviev on the dating app Tinder to meet and trap women.

He used to refer to himself as ‘the prince of diamonds’. Also, he used to claim that Lev Leviev, the billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul is his father.

Shimon even changed his legal surname to Leviev in order to make his story more realistic. He showed himself as if he is high profile CEO who has to travel a lot due to his work.

He duped many women out of enormous amounts so as to meet his needs of living a lavish lifestyle having private jets, luxury hotels, and expensive cars.

To trap women on the dating app, he would impress them with luxury trips and gifts with the money he got from other women on the app. And then he would ask these women for more money saying that he need to hide his identity citing security reasons.

Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm, and Ayleen Charlotte are three such women who are up to sharing their story via the Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swindler.

The 29-year-old Fjellhoy (living in London) met Shimon on the app in 2018. She shared that he arranged a private jet to Bulgaria from London for their first date.

She said in the documentary, “When I first talked with Simon, we immediately had a bond. It felt like stepping into a movie.”

But in no time she was able to realize that it was actually a fairytale romance as she was in over $200,000 debt.

Where is Shimon Hayut now?

In 2019, following a joint operation carried out by Interpol and Israeli Police, Shimon Hayut was finally caught.

In May 2019, he revealed to ABC’s Nightline through a text message that he was innocent.

“They used me for my life, they got expensive gifts and everything, in other words gold diggers,” he said. “When I ask help they agreed to help and they know that I have some problems. I didn’t run from no one, it’s all fake news and lies.”

In Dec 2019, he was then sentenced to 15 months behind the bars as well as told to pay $43,289 in compensation. However, he was released in just five months.

Back in 2015 for deceiving three women, he has been behind the bars in a Finnish prison serving a two-year sentence.

“How can you give trust to a man like that, who escaped from Israel twice? A man that deceived and swindled women in Europe for hundreds of thousands of euros. Where is the justice?” Pernilla had shared with a news outlet then.

His current whereabouts are not known.

The Tinder Swindler is set to be released on Netflix on February 2 (Wednesday).

Check out the trailer below: