'Tinder Swindler' Permanently Banned from App
Film/TV

'Tinder Swindler' Permanently Banned from App

Shimon Hayut's dating app days are over.

Following the recent premiere of Netflix's The Tinder Swindler, the app confirmed the conman, who primarily operated under the name Simon Leviev, would no longer be able to use the app in a statement to E! News.

"We banned Simon Leviev and any of his known aliases as soon as the story of his actions became public in 2019," a spokesperson said on Monday. "He is permanently banned from Tinder." The rep also went on to add that ahead of the film's debut, the company had "conducted additional internal investigations" and was able to confirm that "Simon Leviev is not active on Tinder under any of his known aliases."

The documentary, which debuted last week, revealed how Hayut allegedly scammed his Tinder matches out of hundreds of thousands of dollars each through interviews with three of his victims. According to the women, Hayut pretended to be the son of Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev of LLD Diamonds, and gained their trust by taking them on extravagant dates involving everything from private jets to expensive meals, which he paid for using other victims' money. The women said he'd then tell them about threats on his life and say he needed them to open credit cards under their own names, so his enemies wouldn't be able to "track" him with his card.

He was eventually caught after Norway's VG newspaper published a lengthy exposé on his scam with the help of two victims, which caught the attention of one of his girlfriends, Ayleen Koeleman, who told authorities his whereabouts. It is estimated that he's scammed $10 million from women all over the world using this method.

Hayut, who already served three years in prison for scamming three Finnish women prior to that arrest, was sentenced to 15 months in an Israeli prison but was released after 5. Since then, he has started his own "consulting" business and remains a free man. Thankfully though, it seems like his Tinder scams are done for now.

Watch the official trailer for The Tinder Swindler below.

Photo via Getty Creative / Thiago Prudêncio / SOPA Images / LightRocket

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