The Tinder Swindler has become the most watched documentary on Netflix ever with over 166 million hours watched within the first month. This is no surprise considering the show felt more like fiction rather than reality. These kinds of stories were only heard about in con movies and it is quite unimaginable that someone actually pulled something like this off.
‘Simon Hayut’, one of his known identities, conned numerous women up to a total of $10 Million. The more you watch the documentary, the more shocking it gets. But out of all the crazy things that we saw, here is a list of 10 which stood above the rest.
The Prince Of Diamonds
To start off his cons on the numerous victims, one of Simon’s most common stories was that he was the ‘Prince of Diamonds’ because he was related to Lev Leviev, who happens to be the billionaire founder of LLD Diamonds, a diamond manufacturing company. This is how The Tinder Swindler started most of his cons.
But of course, it turns out that Simon had absolutely no connection with this company whatsoever and neither with the Leviev family. These resemble the lies on MTV's Catfish but on steroids. It is really shocking how a person can conjure up a personality and convince others about its reality. The dazzling first impression on his victims through the expensive trips and dinners really swept them off their feet and the lie became much easier to sell.
Simon Had Enemies And He Had Been To Prison
Cecille had noticed some marks on Simon’s back which he told her were a result of a Million-dollar diamond deal gone wrong, because of which he had to go a prison in South Africa. He also said that he was harassed because he was Jewish. Not only this, apparently Simon and his security company were also receiving threats from his ‘enemies’ in the form of bullets and bouquets. And because of these ‘enemies’, he also refused to come to London because somehow he wouldn’t be safe there.
These stories might seem outlandish in hindsight, but the truth is that most of his victims really believed these lies. The story that he conjured regarding his enemies was the focal point of his cons and the show very cleverly pointed out both the shockingness and the absurdity of his stories.
Cecilia Forged And Lied To American Express To Let Simon Use Her Credit Card
This is how much Simon had manipulated his victims. To be able to use Cecilia’s credit cards, he knew that she would have to lie to them about her whereabouts and the fact that she was the one spending the money. And this is exactly what he did, Cecilia was persuaded by Simon to forge her income reports so that her card limits could be increased and lie to American Express only so that Simon could use her card for the so-called ‘business expense’.
It is quite shocking to see how someone can be so enamored by an individual that they are willing to lie to a bank and risk their financial position to help them out. One of the best aspects of the show was how they did not paint Cecilia as the absolute victim and also pointed out some of the mistakes that she could have avoided in this situation.
Simon Ended Up Spending $250,000 On The Mykonos Trip Under Cecilia’s Card
The so-called business expenditures and running away from his enemies turned out to be a lavish trip with his new girlfriends to Mykonos. Simon ended up getting a luxury room which costs $5,000 a night, $40,000 spent on a single night at a VIP Club.
While everyone at the club thought that Simon is very generous because he was covering the entire bill, nobody would have thought that it was actually Cecilia’s money. These $250,000 were taken as loans from at least 9 separate creditors. This again shows almost the hysterical nature of the victims where they would spend or do anything to make sure that Simon was happy
Simon Was Seeing 3 Different Women At The Same Time
There is more to the Mykonos trip than meets the eye. Not only was Simon spending Cecilie’s money while he was apparently seeing her, but he had also started dating a model named Polina. So, during the Mykonos trip, Simon went to meet Pernilla along with his new girlfriend Polina while spending Cecilia’s money.
During this time, Pernilla did not even know that Simon and Cecilia were still ‘dating’. It also doesn’t seem like Polina knew the real source of Simon’s income. Another point to note is that Pernilla was completely ignored by Simon during the entire trip. Even at this point of the relationship, it is insane to see how none of the women who were with him ever questioned his behavior or the fact that there were multiple women hanging out with him on the trips.
Simon Used The Same Texts And Voice Messages
One of the most shocking things about these cons is that Simon did not even seem to change the texts and voice messages which he used to send to different victims. Numerous victims realized once the VG article was published that Simon used to send the same exact texts, videos, and voice messages to all of his victims.
Not only his backstory but even the chain of events which led to his ‘enemies’ being after him were also the same for each of his victims. It is shocking to see how the same messages can be used to target and convince so many women at the same time. This really points out the effectiveness of the entire story.
Cecilia Met Simon’s Daughter And Her Mother Who Didn't Even Exist
One of the factors which made Cecilia trust Simon was the fact that he introduced his daughter and her mother to her early on when they started dating. But Cecilia soon found that the so-called ‘mother’ was actually a woman who testified against Simon a few years back.
There is still no answer about why a woman who testified against Simon would pretend to be the mother of his daughter and praise him about being such a good father. This is one of the shocking mysteries of the entire saga, what could have been the reasons behind her supporting Simon for this lie. But from the perspective of the victim, it is understandable how meeting someone's mother might garner more trust.
VG Reporters Found Out That Simon Had the Perfect Ponzi Scheme Running
When Cecilia finally went to VG Journalists, they figured out that Simon had been running the perfect Ponzi scheme. He would use the money from his prior victim to fund his expenses and try to woo another victim. This way a new girl would be impressed by him and the cycle would continue.
What made it so perfect was the fact that most of the time, Simon was using somebody else’s credit cards which made it very difficult for authorities to track him and even charge him with any crime as he could just say that he was borrowing the money. But one of the more shocking aspects of the investigation was how some of the bank employees were aware of Simon's scam but still chose to do nothing about it until Cecilia made them aware of it.
Simon Was Rejected By A Plastic Surgeon
When Simon’s story came out, he wanted to get some cosmetic procedures done to change his look so that people wouldn’t be able to recognize him. So when he went to a doctor in Prague and asked him to change his chin, cheekbones, lips, and eyes, he got rejected.
The doctor said that only criminals would want such heavy changes on their face. It is shocking to see to what lengths Simon was willing to go to, to keep his scams running. If he would have gotten the surgery, it is a big possibility that the might have continued with his scams on new people, maybe even in a different country.
‘Simon’ Was Actually Wanted By The Israeli Authorities
As it turns out, Simon’s real name was actually Shimon Hayut and he originally came from Tel Aviv, Israel. He had changed his name back in 2017 to Simon and it also turns out that he was suspected to have stolen a check from his employer back in 2011.
He had a long list of suspected robberies and scams which made the Israeli authorities look for him. He even had a date in Court, but he fled the country before appearing for it. This surprisingly brings to light the bureaucracy-related issues with criminals like Simon. He continued with his crimes as soon as he fled from the country knowing that there was no way for his victims to be aware of his past.