The Tinder scammer describes a romance scam, based on a Ponzi scheme. In this article, the known name of the scammer, namely Simon Leviev, also known as Shimon Heyada Hayut, will be used.
Superiority complex
Whether it’s the press articles or the comments on Twitter, the first thing that strikes you about this documentary are the comments. “Women are venal”, “women are stupid”, “they were stupid”, “how could they have made so much money”, etc. We don’t blame the victims. Never. At no moment.
The three women who speak in the report – and it’s a safe bet there are many more – have agreed to tell their story, facing the camera, for a film broadcast on one of the most visited platforms. in the world. Not only does it take a lot of courage to do so, but they — as well as the authors of the documentary — are doing public health work. Indeed, we learn in the press that Simon Leviev was still registered and a priori active on Tinder until February 2022. His Wikipedia file indicates that he was still present on Match, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid.
Romance scams exist and have been made easier thanks to the Internet. If that of the Tinder scammer is quite spectacular in its volume, we no longer count the number of people – men and women – who have sent money to complete strangers, after a few exchanges on the Internet. In 2020, romance scams generated $304 million according to Catalin Cimpanu.
With the epidemic, scams of this type could even be amplified. Suffice it to say that we are stuck in a country, with no possibility of immediate return, due to health policy. Basically, any Internet user can fall for a romance scam, whether it’s on Twitter, Tinder, Meetic, Facebook or even LinkedIn. You can buy fake profiles on Tinder for a few euros. We must therefore not believe that we are more intelligent than the others.
We hope the scoffers haven’t invested in wacky cryptocurrencies, or NTFs, or pyramid scams like “earning money while traveling,” not to mention the notorious “enrichment” schemes just by sending emails, or drop-shipping, etc. Nor will we talk about the people who believed in good faith that a legal action cost €2. We are all vulnerable online.
As for the pseudo-venality of the three victims, there is matter to discuss. Is it a crime to want to date someone who has a standard of living equal to or higher than yours? Too great a difference in income in a couple is a source of permanent conflict. These women didn’t need money, they were completely financially independent, had a good job and didn’t need a man to pay their bills. This is even why Simon Leviev chose them. If they had been less comfortable, he wouldn’t have hooked them.
Objective elements and distancing
Objectively, the victims had reason to believe that Simon Leviev had money. He took them out in expensive places, displayed himself in luxurious destinations and wore high-fashion clothes. Contrary to what one might think, scammers don’t have a luminous sign above their heads, saying “hello, I came to steal all your money”.
We will admit that it would make everyone’s life easier. We clearly see in the documentary the mechanics of the trap. Simon Leviev lets a few weeks pass before asking for money and he starts with “modest” sums. He asks nothing of them from the first meetings, quite the contrary. He makes gifts, invites, etc.
In addition, it gives personal elements, such as its identity or its profession, which are plausible when one makes a superficial search on a search engine. However, according to various studies, 80% – optimistic percentage – of Internet users do not go beyond the first page of Google results. If we take into account the best referenced sites such as social networks, it is quite easy to build a false identity from scratch and to appear with this false identity, as the first result.
Once the gears have started, when you’re in it, you can perfectly believe it. The difficulty for the victims – and this is what seems to stand out – is the absence of a close immediate entourage. Cecilie takes refuge with her mother, who lives in another country. Did these women have close friends who could have alerted them to what was happening? Moreover, Simon Leviev has maneuvered well: he has chosen victims in countries where banking regulation seems much more flexible than in France.
Finally, and this point seems to be overshadowed by a lot of people, Simon Leviev did not hesitate to threaten them. He called the victims, threatening them and their families if they stopped sending him money. When Cecilie went to the police station, no one took the threats seriously. Simon threatens Pernilla on the phone and the scene is fully filmed. As for Ayleen, her phone is literally overflowing with messages of insults and threats. If we take the sum of all the lies of Simon Leviev, they could reasonably believe it and even the journalists who followed Pernilla in Munich did not seem very reassured.
Usage precautions
In life as on the Web, there are some precautions to take, even if zero risk does not exist.
On dating sites, preference should be given to applications that have a desktop version. This is the case of Tinder for example. In this way, it is possible to make a reverse image on the photos. The right click is disabled, but by displaying the console (f12), you can find the link of the photo, download it and use reverse image services to try to find the photo on the various social networks. This also makes it possible to find the profiles and sometimes the marital status that goes with it.
Believe it or not, but on Tinder there are still guys who use the same profile picture as on Facebook, the site on which they appear with wife and children, including the youngest who is two months old and the profile of the wife. The application itself pushes its users to give as much information as possible, so do not hesitate to exploit them.
Take the time to talk with the person on the app or on a digital interface. Archive everything, you don’t know how things can turn out. The day you meet the person, offer a public place, with people and within your means. Never take your eyes off your glass. Keep your phone on you at all times.
Tell your friends where you’re going and who you need to meet. If possible, try to arrange an appointment in the middle of the day, so as not to depend on the car to return.
Never give out your phone’s unlock code or your computer’s password. With all the passwords stored, this amounts to providing access to all the information needed to be scammed or impersonated.
More generally, try to know as much about the other person as he knows about you. He asks you what you do for a living, ask him the same question. Nothing prohibits checking later in peace.
If Simon Leviev is – for the moment – free of his movements, the three victims of the documentary continue to repay the debts they have contracted. They opened a kitty. As for their scammer, if his liabilities have remained confined to Europe, with this documentary, there is no doubt that his fame will become worldwide. The Tinder Scammer is available on Netflix.