Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev launches scam-proof dating app: Ive paid my debts
Deception, scams and cases of false identity.These are common risks in online dating that Simon Leviev said he can prevent with his soon-to-be released dating app, Safe Love.He knows how fraudsters commit those deceptions.He was one of them.Leviev, who was born Shimon Yehuda Hayut, gained prominence as the “Tinder Swindler” because of his romance fraud schemes.
The 36-year-old made a lavish income extorting money from women he met online.In 2015 and 2019, he was convicted of fraud, theft and forgery charges in Israel and Finland, he confirmed to Fox News Digital in a video conference interview.He served time in Finland from September 2015 until March 2017, he said.He was arrested in Israel in 2011 and 2017 for the same case.
And in June 2019, he was extradited from Greece to Israel, where he was jailed until May 2020, he said.In Finland, Leviev was sentenced in 2015 to two years behind bars after authorities said he defrauded three women, according to The Times of Israel.He was convicted in 2019 of four charges of fraud and sentenced to 15 months in prison but was released after five months, the BBC reported.Leviev now plans to use his expertise to reduce the risks involved in finding potential partner matches online, he said.He compares himself to famed fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr., convicted con man immortalized in the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie “Catch Me If You Can.” Abagnale committed check fraud, theft and forgery and later became a fraud-prevention specialist.“The idea came from me being the Tinder Swindler,” Leviev said in his heavy Israeli accent.“They say I made the dating environment unsafe.
So I thought, ‘All right.Let’s make it safe.’”He mostly splits time between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
His expertise in the area of fraud makes him the perfect candidate to help others avoid being victims, he said.“I did use false passports.I did use false identity,” he said.
“I’ve been convicted for that.I’ve paid my de...