Netflix’s ‘Tinder Swindler’ insists he is true gentleman

‘I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls … I’m not this monster that everybody has created’

A FRAUDSTER known as the “Tinder Swindler” insisted he is a “legit businessman and a gentleman – not a monster”, in his first comments since a Netflix documentary on his romance scams aired.

Simon Leviev, a 31-year-old Israeli national, presented himself as the heir to a diamond company and met numerous women on the dating app.

He wooed them with private jets, yachts and expensive hotels – only to swindle them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by claiming he was in danger and needed the money to “escape his enemies”.

He used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle and attract more women to continue the scam.

The story was first reported by Norwegian media in 2019, but gained global attention this year with the release of The Tinder Swindler documentary on Netflix, which the company says has been watched by 50 million people. Now, Leviev has hit out at the show, saying: “I’m a legit businessman. I bought Bitcoin in 2011, which was then worth nothing. I don’t need to say how much it’s worth now.” In an interview with Inside Edition, he added: “I’m not a fraud and I’m not a fake. People don’t know me so they cannot judge me. I’m the biggest gentleman in the world.”

Authorities suspect that he may have stolen as much as $10 million (£7.4 milion) from victims around the world, but Leviev denies wrongdoing. “I feel bad for something I didn’t do? No. I feel bad for what happened to myself,” he said. “I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder... I’m not this monster that everybody has created.”

Leviev was convicted of fraud, theft and forgery in his homeland of Israel and sentenced to 15 months in prison in December 2019. He served five months.

He previously served time in prison in Finland for defrauding three women.

Leviev, who did not participate in the Netflix documentary, has reportedly since been banned from Tinder.