Simon Leviev, the man known worldwide as the “Tinder Swindler,” has been arrested in Georgia, years after gaining infamy for scamming women out of millions of dollars.
The 34-year-old Israeli, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, was taken into custody at Batumi airport in south-west Georgia at the request of Interpol, the country’s interior ministry confirmed on Monday.
Leviev shot to global fame in 2022 after Netflix released a hit documentary titled *The Tinder Swindler*, which revealed how he posed as the heir to a diamond empire on dating app Tinder and tricked women into lending him huge sums of money. Investigators estimated his romance fraud to be worth around $10 million.
One of his victims, Cecilie Fjellhøy, said in the film that she gave him more than $270,000 after he claimed his “enemies” were after him. “He took everything from me. I was devastated,” she said.
Between 2017 and 2019, Leviev lured women with promises of love, private jets, and luxury holidays. Once trust was gained, he would invent stories about being in danger and pressure them to transfer money before cutting off all contact.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact reason for his latest arrest. His lawyer told Israel’s Ynet news site: “I spoke with him this morning after he was detained, but we don’t yet understand the reason. He had been traveling freely around the world.”
Leviev has previously denied all allegations, insisting to BBC Newsbeat in 2022 that he “never conned anyone.”
But more women have come forward since the Netflix documentary. Last year, Israeli woman Iren Tranov sued him for 414,000 shekels (£91,000), saying she loaned him money he never repaid.
His ex-girlfriend, model Kate Konlin, also accused him of abuse, saying: “I was bleeding. I felt dead. I wanted to kill myself.” Leviev denied ever physically harming any woman.
Leviev already has a criminal record. In 2019, he was convicted of fraud in a separate case and sentenced to 15 months, but was released after only five.
The Netflix documentary made him one of the most notorious romance scammers in the world, topping charts in more than 90 countries.
