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We stalked the Tinder Swindler. He can no longer swipe right.

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Amrutha Pagad
Amrutha PagadFeb 09, 2022 | 13:07

We stalked the Tinder Swindler. He can no longer swipe right.

Did your blood boil on seeing conman Simon Leviev or Shimon Hayut Yehuda get away with swindling millions of dollars from innocent women in Netflix's true-crime documentary The Tinder Swindler, without hardly any repercussions?

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Simon Leviev continues to be a free man in Israel. Photo: Instagram

Well, the law enforcement may not have acted as required, but Simon is facing some heat following the release of the Netflix documentary. Other than Ayleen Charlotte’s smooth revenge story stripping Simon of his designerwear worth a fortune, here are some things that happened to Simon that will reignite your faith in justice.

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1. KICKED OFF TINDER

For one, he’s been kicked off Tinder, the dating app where he went hunting for his victims, claiming to be the son of Israeli diamond billionaire Lev Leviev (he’s not!).

“We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases,” Tinder said in a statement to Variety.

2. KICKED OFF SEVERAL OTHER APPS

Not just Tinder, the Wall Street Journal reported that the bogus billionaire has been removed and/or blocked from dating apps owned by Match Group that include Match.com, Plenty of Fish, Hinge and OkCupid.

3. INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT REMOVED

When we wrote a review on the Netflix documentary, Simon’s Instagram with over 1,50,000 followers was still active and posting stories. Now the Instagram account has also been taken down. But it’s not known whether Instagram took it down or whether Simon himself deleted his account.

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However, a number of other Instagram accounts in Simon Leviev’s name have cropped up and it is not verified whether any of them has been created by the real conman himself.

Like they say revenge is best served cold, in Simon’s case, due to the Netflix documentary, it seems like he’s being served revenge cold on the social media platter.

It is now a wonder how Simon will be able to swipe right on his new victims without having access to major dating platforms and his face being almost world-famous.

4. WHERE IS SIMON NOW?

The last time he was active on Instagram, he had put out a story claiming he will come out with his side of the story, seemingly in response to the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler.

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Screenshot of Simon's story on Instagram on February 4, 2022. 

It won’t be the first time he’s claimed to be innocent in interviews with the media. Following Norway media outlet VG’s original story publication ‘The Tinder Swindler’, Simon gave interviews to some local Israeli media outlets proclaiming his innocence.

The documentary showed he was off living the same luxurious life he was living in Europe after conning women off their money. He was dating Israeli model Kate Konlin who’s signed with International agency IMG. His last story on Instagram also showed him with Konlin in a luxury car.

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We don’t know whether the two are still together. But Konlin in an interview with an Israeli news outlet had said that they weren’t in a relationship anymore because of their busy schedules – whatever Simon was busy with! But she said they were still friends.

Konlin also acknowledged that she knew about Simon’s shady past, and that he had claimed to be innocent and showed her a number of documents to prove it. It is unknown whether he swindled money from Konlin too or how or with whose money he was able to fund his lifestyle with her and in Israel.

Meanwhile, he had also set up a website of his own claiming to provide business consultancy services for a fee. Hmm... I guess it would be useful for aspiring conmen. In fact, he had even shared tips with an Israeli news outlet about investing in real estate.

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Simon with Peter.

There’s also an update from Simon’s bodyguard Peter shown in the documentary. Apparently, his real name is Piotr, who’s from Poland. He told a Polish website Pudelek that he’s planning to sue Netflix for 3 million euros for damaging his reputation by insinuating that he was involved with Simon’s illegal acts.

5. WHERE ARE THE VICTIMS?

On the other hand, the three victims of Simon portrayed by Netflix, Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjoholm, and Ayleen Charlotte have launched a GoFundMe page to help pay their debts. It was launched on February 6, 2022, and so far has raised £33,301 (over Rs 33 lakh) of £600,000 (over Rs 6 crore), as of February 8, 2022 6 pm IST.

Cecilie and Pernilla have become good friends, vacationing in Greece and even calling each other ‘sisters’.

What do you think you’ll do if you encounter the Prince of Diamonds/Homeless King/The Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev on any social media platform, asking you out?

Here's a hint:

Last updated: February 09, 2022 | 13:07
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