Recently, stories about true scams have become quite popular, which can be seen on Netflix’s top lists, where Inventing Anna and The Tinder Swindler have been leading for some time. We’ll write a text about the Inventing Anna series on another occasion, and now we prefer the second-mentioned documentary, if for no other reason than because it’s seven days older (February 2, 2022) than Inventing Anna.
Relationship or Friendship – It Didn’t Matter to Simon
The Tinder Swindler is a documentary about Simon Leviev, an Israeli who cheated on women from various countries by seducing them and then asking them for large sums of money. Attention – spoilers follow in the following lines, so if you haven’t seen this title, don’t read the article, but watch the documentary first and then return to our page.
The story is led by Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, and Ayleen Charlotte, in that exact order – three women who are victims of fraud. Simon met each of them on Tinder. He was in a relationship with two and became friends with one. He introduced himself to all these women as the son of Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, who’s engaged in the diamond trade. He created the illusion that he was a rich man who lived a debauched lifestyle and constantly traveled from one place to another. Private jets, parties, expensive dinners and clothes, jewelry – it’s all part of his everyday life.
He said that he made Tinder so that he could get closer to someone, that is, he was looking for a relationship. He quickly entered into romances or close relationships with the women he met through this app. He showed them how rich he was, gained their trust, and then suddenly started sending them photos as evidence that someone wanted to attack him. He had secret enemies who were trying to capture him. Women would worry about his safety, and after that, he asked them for money, under the pretext of his cards and he himself being monitored. The stories, for the most part, began that way.
Deceived Women: ‘Evil Tongues’ vs Facts
Simon Leviev, for whom it would later turn out that this wasn’t his real name, wisely sought victims. These were all women who could give him a larger loan. He never repaid any loans.
Of course, many ‘evil tongues’ commented that these women were stupid because they allowed someone to deceive them like that, or that they hoped to enjoy the money and reputation that Simon promised them. Many said that these women were easy to deceive and that they were gold diggers.
First, the victim is never guilty of becoming a victim; secondly, this doesn’t mean that these women are easy to deceive because they simply had no reason to doubt him. Simon played the role almost perfectly, he had his bodyguard, he wore only branded clothes, he traveled often, he even wanted to rent a luxury apartment and move in with the victim. They had no reason not to trust him. And when trouble arose, they feared for the man they fell in love with and wanted to help him. The victims were just ordinary people who wanted the best for the person they love and it’s completely unfair to shift the blame on them.
Simon Leviev is a predator and manipulator who knew exactly how to manipulate them. He was financed by several women at the same time, and he, in fact, never had his own money. He’s the one who cheated, lived in parallel lives, and was in parallel relationships.
One Might Wonder What Kind of World We Live In
In the end, he was caught, but not for those strong frauds against women. The biggest irony of all is that Simon is free today, and, for instance, Anna Delvey (Russian-German con artist) isn’t, even though they are both essentially fraudsters. Some conmen even never get convicted such as the Roselli brothers, whose scam in the mid-90s relied on forging the identities of unsuspecting victims to build up credit terms with the casinos they targeted (that’s why it’s probably a bit safer to play games of chance online at operators on TopCasinoExpert.com who have top-notch security walls).
Because of these facts, we might wonder what kind of world we live in…
