Authorities Arrest Netflix’s ‘Tinder Swindler’

Convicted con artist Simon Leviev, who was made famous in Netflix’s 2022 documentary The Tinder Swindler, has been arrested in Georgia.

The Israeli citizen, who was previously convicted of conning women out of an estimated $10 million by pretending to be a wealthy diamond heir, was taken into custody at Interpol’s request after arriving at Batumi airport, the BBC reported on Sept. 15.

Authorities did not immediately provide details as to the reason behind Leviev’s recent arrest, but his lawyer told reporters for Israel’s Ynet that Leviev had been “traveling freely around the world.”

“I spoke with him this morning after he was detained, but we don’t yet understand the reason,” they said.

Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, was the subject of a 2022 Netflix documentary that investigated a series of romance and financial fraud cases featuring a man who posed as a diamond heir on Tinder, tricking women into lending him money that he never repaid by pretending to be in danger and in urgent need of cash. Leviev is accused of swindling at least a dozen women from around the world.

Leviev was also accused of emotional and physical abuse by former girlfriend Kate Konlin, who told the BBC in 2023 that he had pushed her during an argument, causing her to cut her foot on a step. After going to the hospital, Konlin filed a complaint against Leviev with the police.

Leviev has denied the allegations against him, but was banned from dating apps following The Tinder Swindler‘s release.

Leviev has a long history of run-ins with the law, having fled Israel in 2011 while facing conviction on fraud, theft and forgery charges. From 2015 to 2017, he served time in a Finnish prison for fraud before being sent back to his home country in 2017. Having fled Israel once more, Leviev was on the run until 2019, when Interpol picked him up in Greece, at which point he was convicted of four charges of fraud. Sentenced to 15 months in prison for his conviction, Leviev only served five months before being released amid COVID-19 prison crowding concerns.