The Tinder Swindler

The Tinder Swindler starts out as any other modern romantic fairytale would. A beautiful Cecilie Fjellhoy, a Norwegian student in London, finds who she believes to be the love of her life on the popular dating up Tinder. All it takes is a swipe in the right direction and voila, she’s face-to-face with her Prince Charming, who industriously sweeps her off her feet and makes her feel like the only girl in the world, right up until he smashes her entire world into pieces, heart, mind and bank account inclusive. And to think she was just one of the very few of his victims…

This eye-opening documentary broke Netflix’s record by being the top watched documentary Netflix has ever produced, and rightly so. This docu-drama touches right on a part of human life that is meant to be pleasant and enjoyable, yet made horribly distasteful by people such as Shimon Hayut, the conman whose activities are exposed on the series.

Shimon poses as Simon Leviev, the handsome son of a billionaire diamond tycoon Lev Leviev, and uses Tinder as an avenue to lure unsuspecting women like Cecilie into his loving arms, lavishes them with gifts and expensive dates for months, and then proceeds to extort thousands of dollars from them under false pretences.

It begins with the story of Cecilie Fjellhoy, a London based Norwegian student, who meets Simon on Tinder and thinks him to be an instant match. Shortly after interacting, Simon takes Cecilie on a date at an expensive hotel in London, followed by a trip on his private, lots of expensive dates and eventually courtship.

Shortly after they start dating, Simon begins to tell her about his numerous “enemies” and security threats. He asks Cecilie to help him stay hidden and safe from his so-called enemies by allowing him to use her credit card and manipulating her to take loans worth over $250,000 from over 9 different banks through lies and deceit

All the while, unknown to Cecilie, Simon is lavishing this money on another Tinder match, Pernilla Sjoholm, with whom he was on a more platonic relationship. They spend their time (and Cecilie’s hard-gained money) taking lavish trips across Europe, with Simon spending huge sums of money on Pernilla and his then Russian model girlfriend Polina.

Cecilie fights hard to get her money back from Simon, who finally agrees to meet her up in Amsterdam and pay her with a cheque. When they do meet, Cecilie notices a drastic change in her so-called boyfriend, who gives her a cheque which she later finds out to be fake and eventually discovers the truth behind the man she had totally been in love with through the authorities. In a bid to get her rightful revenge and ultimately warn others out there, she takes her story to Norway’s most popular news agency VG, who do their in-depth investigations and publish her story for the world to see in 2019.

Pernilla ultimately gets caught in Simon’s deceptive web along the way and soon enough, Simon is asking her for favours as well, causing her to lend him her savings of $30,000 as well as funded flights to different parts of the world. She later discovers his activities through the article posted by VG and goes on to assist them to do further investigations and spreading the word about his fraudulent activities. But alas, he is still luring in more and more victims.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the documentary has to do with the lackadaisical attitude of the local authorities in the countries where these women are based. Even when they report their case to them, they seem to treat the issue as a light crime fueled by the obvious carelessness on the part of the women. When Simon is finally arrested, he is taken back to Israel where he is given a 15-month sentence, only to be released 5 months before and is currently a free man.

The Tinder Swindler is the perfect modern-day love horror story, in which the cons become so sophisticated that it’s nearly impossible to tell the truth from a lie. The plot is both basic and fascinating. It piques your interest, making you doubt what you see on the internet, and wondering if the people around you are really who they claim to be.

If you are still considering watching this captivating and engrossing docu-drama, (which I would strongly recommend you do), you should be mindful of the fact that there are no trigger warnings. Yes, you would fight in your seat to open the victim's eyes and fail miserably and feel the rush of victory that comes when he’s finally arrested, but really nothing can prepare you for all the emotions you would feel getting into this short film, especially if you’re an avid online date seeker.

This movie is a tough watch, a series unlike anything you’ve seen yet, and of course an educational tale that will linger in your mind for quite some time.

The Tinder Swindler is available for streaming on Netflix.