The "Tinder Swindler" Netflix documentary about an Israeli fraudster who has cheated multiple women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars has become a global hit, trending in several countries.
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A victim of Simon Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, spoke to i24NEWS about her experience and shooting the film.
Pernilla Sjoholm was conned into giving Leviev tens of thousands of dollars after becoming friends with him through the Tinder dating app.
When asked what gave her the strength to come forward with her story and attempt to take Leviev down, Sjoholm said the moment of realization occurred when she found out her "friend" had been deceiving people "for such a long time."
As a decent human being, I simply could not rest until I have done everything in my power to stop him and prevent him from hurting others, she said.
Sjolhom was also asked how one can get tricked into giving up such large amounts of money.
We became very good friends, she said referring to Leviev. You have to remember, when a person is a sociopath, he can adapt to being the kind of person you would like.
Sjolhom also added that she and Leviev had an "instant connection," and he started to defraud eight months after they met.
When asked about her hopes for the impact of the documentary, Sjolhom said she wished Leviev "would go to jail for many years and never get out."
Hayut, a Bnei Brak native, is said to have traveled around Europe under the alias of Simon Leviev, the son of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev, and used Tinder to contact women – mainly Scandinavian – and persuaded them to loan him money he never repaid. He served a 5-month sentence in Israel for crimes committed in the Jewish state after being arrested in 2019 in Greece following a joint operation by Interpol and the Israel Police.
Also in 2019, his father, then-Chief Rabbi of El Al Airlines Rabbi Yohanan Hayut was questioned by police over suspicions that together with his son he defrauded hundreds of millions of shekels from businessman, according to Times of Israel. Police also suspected at the time that Yohanan Hayut had helped his son evade prosecution in Israel in 2017 by helping his son flee the country.
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