Israeli national Simon Leviev, known worldwide as “The Tinder Swindler” from the hit Netflix documentary that exposed his scams, was arrested on Monday at Batumi Airport in Georgia at the request of Interpol. The 34-year-old man, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, had been a fugitive for years after being accused of multiple fraud schemes across several European countries.
According to a spokesperson for Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Leviev was taken into custody upon entering the country, although no further details about the operation were provided. Authorities stated that his arrest was the result of international judicial cooperation requests related to the open cases against him in various nations. Between 2017 and 2019, Leviev posed as the heir to a wealthy diamond family on the dating app Tinder.
After gaining the trust of his victims, he would fabricate financial emergencies and request large sums of money, claiming his life was in danger. He never repaid the money. This type of fraud, known as catfishing, involves creating false identities online to emotionally manipulate victims and obtain financial gain. The Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, released in 2022, detailed how Leviev managed to convince several women from Norway, Finland, and Sweden that he lived a life of luxury surrounded by bodyguards, private jets, and exclusive hotels, defrauding them of an estimated ten million dollars.
His case became one of the most notorious examples of digital romance fraud worldwide. Despite the controversy, Leviev has attempted to maintain a public profile: on his Instagram account, where he has more than 259,000 followers, he recently announced the upcoming release of a book titled
The Story Behind the Man, in which he aims to share his version of the events. His arrest marks a new chapter in an international scandal that exposed the dangers of online scams and the power of dating platforms to facilitate this type of crime.
