Swipe Left or Swipe Right?

Yesterday, my friends and I watched a documentary film entitled Tinder Swindler. It was released in 2022 with a 2-hour running time. The film tells a story about a man named Shimon Hayut in the disguised name of Simon Leviev pretending to be the son of a billionaire who owns a diamond company. He used Tinder, a dating app, to connect with women and later on ask for money to support his lavish lifestyle.

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Cecilie Fjellhøy, one of the victims, narrated how it started. It was a quick match with Simon. Of course, the typical move is to check the guy on Google. His Instagram looks legit with 100k+ followers. But I was thinking, what is a billionaire's son doing on Tinder? 😅 He has a lot of money so he could just arrange a date? Isn't he too busy to swipe left and right on the phone? Oh, maybe he doesn't want it done in a bougie way, so he just went for Tinder. 😆

If I were Cecilie, I would feel highly sus of him. Of course, he is professional in doing this modus by using emotions to manipulate the girl. He took her to a 5-star hotel, private jet, drove a Rolls Royce, and did anything to make it appear that he is indeed a billionaire's son.

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Cecille and Simon had a relationship quickly to the point that he asked her to move in with him. One day, Simon sent a picture of his bodyguard Peter with blood all over his head. He said that it was his "enemies" doing since their business, a diamond company, is very risky. He went on and told her that all of his credit cards were cut off. This was the start of asking her thousands and thousands of dollars to the point that she even applied for loans until it accumulated to 250,000 USD. He promised to pay the total amount but the money never came.

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There were two other women in the film with the same scenario namely Pernilla Sjöholm and Ayleen Charlotte. I already got the whole story in the first 30 minutes of the film. It then became repetitive but I just watched along. It is easy to say not to trust anybody online but what if you were in Cecile's shoes? Maybe because she is looking for a partner and can't believe a rich man swiped right. It hyped her up with expensive dinners, private planes, and lavish vacations.

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Collectively, he took $10 million from all of the victims. In the end, it was proven that he is not from the Leviev family, who is a legit owner of a diamond company, he probably rented out those supercars and yachts and paid for the private jets using his victims' money.

Easy to judge the victims like omg why did they believe someone online blablablah. It is easy to deceive someone using emotions and Simon is very good at that. You will never think a person you love the most will do shitty things to you, so you trusted them.

I wish the film included more of Simon's background of why he ended up being a swindler. All we got is he is Shimon Hayut from Israel. Before becoming a big-time swindler, in his teenage years, he was already conducting fraudulent activities. Though the producers reached out to Simon, he sent a voice message saying that he would come for them.

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He was arrested and jailed for 15 months in Israel but was released 5 months later due to the coronavirus pandemic. I am disappointed to see him getting back into his lavish life plus dating a model, ugh. He got away with millions yet the victims are suffering not just from the financial aspect but also mentally and emotionally.

Thanks for reading! 😊

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