Netflix’s newest surprise hit movie, The Tinder Swindler, has over 64 million hours viewed since it debuted in early February. The true-crime documentary film has been one of the most popular projects to hit streaming this month. It is currently the number five movie on Netflix, topping other recent Netflix original films like Tall Girl 2 and Fistful of Vengeance.
The Tinder Swindler is directed by Felicity Morris and “tells the story of the Israeli conman Simon Leviev (born Shimon Yehuda Hayut) who used the dating application Tinder to locate individuals he then emotionally manipulated into financially supporting his lavish lifestyle,” per a synopsis of the film. Leviev has been accused of tricking women by promising to repay them after they loaned him money, however, he allegedly used the swindled money to pay for extravagant gifts and vacations. Leviev was also alleged to have lied to victims by telling them that he had “enemies” who were targeting him and he needed financial support to help protect himself. Leviev was arrested and charged multiple times over the past decade, with some of the charges being related to theft, forgery and fraud for cashing stolen checks.
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In 2019, Leviev spent 5 months of a 15-month sentence in an Israeli prison. He was released early due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the release of The Tinder Swindler, Leviev was kicked off the dating app. “We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases,” Tinder said in a previous statement to Variety. While he was kicked off of Tinder, Leviev is still active on Instagram.
Speaking about the claims against him, Leviev tells Inside Edition, “I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder. I am not a Tinder Swindler.” People reported on the new two-part interview, revealing that Leviev claims, “They present it as a documentary but in truth, it’s like a complete made-up movie.” His girlfriend also joins him for the interview, and is present when he adds, “I’m the biggest gentleman in the world.”
Entertainment Tonight has reported that Leviev’s trouble doesn’t seem to have had the negative impact that one would think as he “has signed on with a talent manager, Gina Rodriguez of Gitoni Inc., in hopes of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.” The outlet also reports that Leviev is “looking into a potential podcast, hosting a dating show, and/or writing a book.” Additionally, Netflix is in the early stages of developing a feature film based on The Tinder Swindler.
