Tinder Swindler defrauded women of $10M and spent 5 months in prison. 5 years later, he returns to TV to launch a dating app, says history is an asset

Simon Leviev, the notorious “Tinder Swindler” and convicted fraudster, is back again. The man who allegedly defrauded women out of millions on Tinder is now claiming he wants to help those on dating apps by launching an app of his own. Last month, in an interview with the UK’s ITV This Morning, Leviev said he planned to launch a dating app that would help protect users from fakes, liars, and people like himself.

Leviev, who was the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, also maintained that he’s a changed man after prison. However, the interview has gone viral for the pushback he received from host Ben Shepherd on his claims.

Leviev was convicted of theft, forgery, and fraud in 2019

Born Shimon Yehuda Hayut, the man changed his name to Simon Leviev around 2017, when he was fleeing charges in Israel for at least the second time. Leviev, who has been through several name changes, went on to travel around Europe under different names after that, but used the name Simon Leviev on the dating app Tinder. There, he supposedly presented himself as the son of Lev Leviev, a Russian-Israeli diamond mogul.

After meeting women on Tinder, he allegedly charmed them with luxurious gifts and took them to dinners on a private jet. However, he would then pretend that he had various “enemies” targeting him, and would send messages and images pretending he or his bodyguard had been attacked, before asking the women to send him money. Altogether, he purportedly swindled around $10 million from his victims. (Leverage: Redemption had the team tackle a nearly identical scenario in “The Swipe Right Job,” likely based on the Netflix true-crime documentary.)

Leviev went viral in 2019 for his reported crimes after his arrest in Greece by Interpol. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison in Israel, but was released after only five months due to COVID-19.

The interview with ITV was contentious

According to People, Leviev attempted to promote his yet-to-be-released dating app during his interview with ITV, but host Ben Shepherd pushed back against the idea when he said, “There will be people watching this today who think it’s really distasteful that you’re launching a dating app. You’re notorious for being anything other than trustworthy.”

Leviev maintained he didn’t steal money from women on Tinder and instead called himself a businessman. He also reportedly explained, “I did live 10 years on a false passport. I do know how to lie, I do know how to cheat, I do know how to manipulate[…]Obviously, I’m not proud of it but obviously it’s maybe a set of skills that others don’t have out there.”

However, Shepherd allegedly hit back when he replied, “I’m gonna be honest Simon… I’m really sorry, you say you’re not proud of it but it certainly sounds like you’re proud of it. It certainly sounds like you’re listing those things like accolades, which means you are perfectly positioned to now launch another business rather than saying because I have done all these things I want to turn over a new leaf.”

Users in the UK praised Shepherd for his pushback.

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