Tinder cad swiped all our money

The perils of romance scams gripped millions of viewers of Netflix true crime documentary The Tinder Swindler.

It tells the story of Israeli conman Simon Leviev – real name Shimon

Hayut – who scammed women out of thousands of pounds with elaborate tales of diamond industry feuds and having to flee deadly “enemies”.

The show, released in February, made it into the Netflix top 10 in 92 countries.

Leviev, 31, charmed the women after meeting them on dating app Tinder.

He claimed he was the millionaire son of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev. But photos that appeared to show them together were fake.

The conman declared his love for the women and asked them to move in with him – with two telling how they had even viewed homes they thought would become their lovenest.

After reeling in his victims with charming compliments and long video calls, he began spinning his lies, sending snaps of his “beaten up” security guard. One of the women, Norwegian Cecilie Fjellhoy, says Leviev asked her to take out credit cards for him in her name, claiming he could not access his money because his “enemies” were after him.

When challenged, the women say he became threatening.

Cecilie and two other victims featured on the show – Ayleen Charlotte and Pernilla Sjöholm – later set up a GoFundMe appeal to “get their lives back together”.

In one week the show racked up 45.8 million hours of viewing – and Tinder banned Leviev from its platform.