Here’s a jaw-dropping documentary from Netflix. Directed by Felicity Morris, it launched in February 2022 and covers the story of Israeli conman Simon Leviev.

Using the online dating app Tinder, he was able deceive many women. The total of his fraudulent activity led to around $10 million in earnings. He did this through an adapted type of Ponzi scheme.

If you’ve not seen the documentary, we suggest abandoning this review. Go and watch the film! Then come back and read this. As this one is something else.

Exploring the Ultimate Romance Scam in the Tinder Swindler

This is one of those films that sticks with you for a long time afterwards. We watched it two years ago, but you can’t get the story out of your mind.

Other films have covered the topic. Including The Imposter (2012) documentary and the antics of Frédéric Bourdin.

But the full extent of what Simon Leviev (real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut) did is quite difficult to comprehend. On a totally different scale.

Although it’s clear Leviev was operating his romance scam from at least 2015, the film’s events take place around 2017.

It opens with Cecilie Fjellhøy, a Norwegian lady wooed by the seemingly suave Leviev. She matched with him on Tinder, met him at a five star London hotel, and was instantly wooed by his success.

She’s very likeable, if idealistic (fawning over the Disney version of true romance), but bloody hell was she in for a time of it with this guy.

The Romance Scam

Romance scams are in operation every day. As far as we’re concerned, this is possibly the most elaborate one we’ve come across by one man.

It was almost unbelievable in its execution.

Simon Leviev posed as the son of a billionaire diamond business owner. Not just boasting about his situation, he also had everything to back up his claims:

• A private jet.
• Fancy supercars.
• Expensive clothes.
• Endless parties.
• Many homes.

For Fjellhøy and other women, there was very little he presented them to arose suspicion. If he takes you on a private jet for your first date, you’re going to believe he’s loaded.

What Leviev was actually doing was a disturbingly calculated process of love bombing (where a date bombards you with adoration straight away). He got women to fall head over heels for them, then dropped his scam.

Fjellhøy sent him masses of money to help. And as it turns out, he’d also conned Swedish young professional Pernilla Sjöholm into getting vast sums of money, too.

He used an elaborate ruse to do that.

Feigning an attack from his “enemies” (mobsters who were after his father’s money). It’s only Fjellhøy reported him to the authorities that she stepped up, with Sjöholm, and international press campaign to end the Ponzi scheme.

An Ermagherd of a Documentary

We don’t want to reveal too much of the story. There are so many twists and turns in the plot it doesn’t let up for two hours. You’re quite exhausted by the end of it all.

The Tindler Swindler is certainly a modern classic. But it’s just a real shame something like this has to exist—romance scams cost victims $1.3 billion in 2022 in America.

Some 70,000 people reported crimes (think of the number who didn’t report it).

But films like this will, at least, make more people aware of suspicious behaviour. Such as if a super hot Brad Pitt kind of bloke suddenly falls in love with you, then mysteriously wants you to send him $40,000.

Fair warning here—it’s probably a scam.

Just to note, Tinder reacted to the documentary and banned Leviev from the app. He’s now out of jail and running various business classes on how to become successful. He charges a lot for a lesson.

Analysis of Simon Leviev’s Personality

Leviev embodies toxic masculinity. A comparison is with Andrew Tate, who is more overt with his antics yet still has a huge following despite operating similar scams.

Tate has actually been on record saying he’s scamming men in to his educational lessons, but that doesn’t seem to stop his followers.

Some professionals suggest Leviev may have what’s known in psychological theory as the dark triad. That is:

• Narcissism
• Machiavellianism
• Psychopathy

It’s pretty clear he has no remorse for what he’s done. People like that just won’t be able to understand they’ve done anything wrong.

You can watch any JCS – Criminal Psychology documentary to get an understanding for how these people operate. No matter how insurmountable the evidence against them, they’ll continue to deny everything and plead their innocence.

And that’s what Leviev did when Tinder Swindler launched.

He threatened to sue everyone involved. Nothing has come of that, of course, as instead he went to jail for a spell. But now he’s back out there doing his thing, earning a living in a different kind of way (he’s trying to be a celebrity).

The Production of Tinder Swindler

The documentary launched on Netflix and was a big international hit, logging 45.8 million hours of viewing in just over a week.

It also hit Netflix’s top 10 viewed shows across 92 countries.

The film earned a lot of press attention, too. Everyone knew of romance scams by that point, but this was just on a totally different level. To complement the series, Netflix also launched three podcast specials on its You Can’t Make This Up show.

Meanwhile, just to note of Fjellhøy and Sjöholm—they launched a GoFundMe victim fundraiser to coincide with the documentary launch.

This has gone some way to cover the debts incurred by dealing with their billionaire diamond dealer.