How Old The Tinder Swindler Is (& What Age His Scams Started)
Netflix’s new documentary The Tinder Swindler exposes con-man Simon Leviev but does not reveal how old he is. Released on February 2, 2022, The Tinder Swindler soared into the number one slot in Netflix’s coveted “Top 10” list, as viewers tuned in to hear how Leviev scammed beautiful young women out of millions of dollars through the dating app, Tinder. However, many details about Leviev were omitted in The Tinder Swindler, particularly the swindler’s age and how old he was when he started his cons.
The Tinder Swindler tells the story of the three women Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm, and Ayleen Charlotte, who met Simon Leviev on the dating app, Tinder. Simon was able to convince the women (and many others) that he was the CEO of a diamond company and son of “The Diamond King” Lev Leviev by posting photos of himself in private planes and luxury hotels the world over. The truth was far different: Simon used other women’s money to fund the lifestyle that Cecilie, Pernilla, and Ayleen believed to be true, leading them to become victims in his elaborate Ponzi scheme.
The Tinder Swindler, Simon Leviev, swindled $430,000 dollars from the women in the Netflix documentary, but he has stolen much more from many more people. It is estimated that Leviev stole over 10 million dollars between the years of 2017-2019, but these are just some of his more recent crimes. Before changing his name to appear part of the diamond bloodline, the 31-year-old Simon Leviev was Shimon Hayut, a con-man whose crimes date back to when he was a teenager.
Born in Israel in 1990, Hayut’s criminal activity can be traced back to 2005 when, at 15 years old, he was accused of credit card fraud by family friends. Throughout his teenage years, Hayut continued his small-time crimes, like stealing employers’ checkbooks, until he was charged in 2011 for theft, forgery, and check fraud. Hayut fled the country after being released on bail. Shimon Hayut (not yet Simon Leviev, the Tinder Swindler) was then arrested and imprisoned in Finland from 2015-2017 for defrauding three women in a similar fashion as those from The Tinder Swindler.
Shortly after being released from prison in 2017, Shimon Hayut assumed the identity of Simon Leviev and began the elaborate schemes detailed in The Tinder Swindler. As reported in the documentary, Leviev was arrested in Greece in 2019 and extradited back to his home country, where he was sentenced to 15 months in prison but only served five. It seems it has been a busy 31 years for the notorious swindler, as he has been playing this game a long time.