The Tinder Swindler follows three women conned by a man known as Simon Leviev who they met on the dating app. Simon pretended to be the son of billionaire Lev Leviev in order to prove his wealth and earn these women's trust, before slowly asking for more and more money that he promised to reimburse and never did. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to prison for fraud in Israel from 2011, for charges unrelated to his scams committed in the Netflix documentary.
Simon, whose birth name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, served five months out of his 15-month jail sentence due to the pandemic. Although three of his victims—Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm, and Ayleen Charlotte—worked with journalists to catch Simon, he never paid for the cons later featured in The Tinder Swindler. He refused to be a part of the documentary and maintains his innocence to this day, despite evidence suggesting he never stopped scamming.
Since his release from prison following Netflix's The Tinder Swindler, Simon Leviev has seemingly proved he learned nothing from the experience. His social media has shown him living freely in Israel without any financial problems, but it's unclear what exactly has been funding his glamorous lifestyle. Although the Netflix documentary stated Simon has been back on Tinder after his release, there is currently no hard evidence that he's resumed scamming women. Regardless, he clearly has not given up adopting fake identities to get what he wants. Simon has given multiple interviews claiming to be an international expert on real estate who is 29 years-old, even though his real age is estimated to be 31. In December 2020, he once again made headlines for pretending to be a medical worker in order to receive an early dose of the COVID vaccine, telling Israel's Channel 12 news that he wasn't "somebody who waits in lines."
The Tinder Swindler's Simon Leviev still claims to be innocent in the scams involving Cecilie, Pernilla, Ayleen, and countless others. While in prison, he continued to threaten Pernilla for spreading lies about him and filed a civil lawsuit against her and Cecilie. Other victims have also filed lawsuits against him that haven't gone anywhere, and the real-life "King of Diamonds," Lev Leviev, reportedly filed a complaint with Israeli police over Simon claiming to be his son. In response, Simon told Israel's Channel 12: “I have the right to choose whatever name I want, I never presented myself as the son of anyone, but people use their imaginations." He's expressed a desire to share his side of the story multiple times, but has yet to actually do so. After The Tinder Swindler Netflix documentary was released, Simon promised to set the record straight on Instagram right before deleting his account entirely.
Simon Leviev has stayed busy since The Tinder Swindler, but the Netflix documentary has at least helped make it a little harder for him to continue his scams. Tinder announced that he's been banned from the app, stating, "We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases." Hopefully, this means Simon will give up conning unsuspecting women and will live a more honest life, but only time can tell for sure.