Simon Leviev, subject of Netflix’s ‘Tinder Swindler,’ banned from dating apps

Simon Leviev, the topic of Netflix’s new documentary “The Tinder Swindler,” was banned from relationship apps like Tinder and Hinge after the filmmakers alleged he scammed a number of ladies for an estimated complete of $10 million.

“The Tinder Swindler” follows three ladies who mentioned they had been conned by Leviev, an Israeli man all of them individually met on Tinder someday between 2018 and 2019.

Within the documentary, the ladies alleged that Leviev — whose actual title is Shimon Hayut — claimed he was the son of a rich tycoon, took them out on extravagant dates and began relationships with them earlier than finally scamming them out of enormous sums of cash.

On the time of its launch on Feb. 2, “The Tinder Swindler” mentioned Hayut was again on Tinder — a press release that the corporate denied in a press release to NBC Information.

“We banned Simon Leviev and any of his identified aliases as quickly because the story of his actions grew to become public in 2019,” a Tinder spokeswoman mentioned.

“Within the lead as much as the discharge of the documentary, we carried out further inside investigations and might verify Simon Leviev will not be lively on Tinder below any of his identified aliases.”

Hayut was additionally banned from utilizing relationship websites and apps below Match Group Inc, together with Match.com, Loads of Fish and OkCupid, she mentioned.

Makes an attempt to succeed in Netflix and Hayut had been unsuccessful on Tuesday.

Hayut didn’t seem within the documentary however a voice message the filmmakers mentioned he despatched to them was included within the movie.

“I’ll proceed with the lawsuit towards you for defamation and lies and, you already know, that every part is predicated, principally, on a lie. And that’s it, that is the way it’s gonna be,” Hayut mentioned within the voice message.

On Feb. 1, a day earlier than the documentary was launched, Tinder revealed a set of recent tips titled, “Romance Scams: How one can Shield Your self On-line.”

The actual fact sheet didn’t point out Hayut or the documentary, however it included recommendations on determine a scammer and what to not do whereas relationship on-line.

In July 2019, Hayut was arrested in Greece and extradited again to Israel, the place he was convicted of 4 fraud expenses and ordered to compensate his victims a complete of greater than $43,000, the Instances of Israel reported. He was launched after solely serving 5 months of his 15-month sentence.

Since his launch in Might 2020, Hayut has lived as a free man and frequently posted on his Instagram account, which amassed greater than 100,000 followers, in keeping with the Instances of Israel.

His Instagram account was deleted as of Tuesday morning.