The Tinder Swindler

The Israeli conman Shimon Hayut presents himself as Simon Leviev, son of a diamond mogul, and meets women through Tinder. The first stage is private jets, expensive gifts and luxury dinners, all of it paid for with the previous victim's money. Then comes a manufactured danger: he says his enemies are after him and his accounts are frozen. The women take out loans and send him money; he sends forged transfer documents and disappears. The structure works like a Ponzi scheme, and identical messages went to more than one woman. The documentary went up on Netflix on 2 February 2022. In its opening week it was watched for 45.8 million hours worldwide and made the top ten in 92 countries. After it aired, Tinder and its parent Match Group banned Hayut from their platforms. Hayut responded by launching NFTs using imagery from the documentary. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 96 percent, with critics calling it compulsively watchable true crime. Who it is for: viewers who want the mechanics of a con laid out step by step. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a close where the women get their money back or the man gets what he deserves. There is no such close.