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Night Watch: The ‘Tinder Swindler Strikes Again: Love, Luxury and $50K STOLEN
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Crime House has the perfect new show for spooky season Twisted Tales. Hosted by Heidi Wong, each episode of Twisted Tales is perfect for late night scares and daytime frights, revealing the disturbing real life events that inspired the world's most terrifying blockbusters and the ones too twisted to make it to screen. Twisted Tales is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts New episodes out every Monday.
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This is Crime House.
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The Tinder swindler has found himself in more legal trouble. Nearly three years after Shimon Yehuda Hayut was the center of Netflix's Tinder Swindler documentary, the convicted con artist was arrested on September 14.
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This morning, Shimon Hayud has yet again been arrested for fraud, accused of stealing more than $50,000 from a woman overseas.
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Three women they shared their stories of how they were conned into thinking Levie was this rich Playboy jet setting around the world, according to the publication the Sun. And this was all thanks to his family's diamond fortune. In reality, that wasn't the case. In reality, he he has no connection to Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Leviev, but according to the BBC, he legally changed his name to make himself seem more credible.
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He promised love, delivered lies, and left women drowning in debt. Now, with fresh charges for stealing thousands more, the Tinder Swindler story is far from over. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor and fear fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on the biggest cases. Every night, Night Watch takes you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is the place for you. Follow Crime House Daily wherever you get your podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel @CrimeHouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Tonight we're digging into the story of Simon Leviev, better known as the Tinder Swindler, a man who dazzled women with private jets, luxury hotels and promises of eternal love, only to leave them bankrupt and broken. His scams made international headlines, sparked a hit Netflix documentary, and turned him into one of the most notorious con men of our time. But now the saga has taken a dramatic new turn. Just weeks after announcing plans for a tell all memoir, Simon has been arrested in Georgia on fresh fraud charges and is accused of swindling yet another victim. With extradition on the table and his freedom at stake, the question is, has the Tinder swindler finally run out of lies?
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The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't?
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Based on a true story. Police looking for John Gacy. We discovered bodies. By the looks of it, they're younger men. The things he did to those kids. He's sick.
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The system, failed families.
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Devil in disguise. John Wayne Gacy. Streaming now only on Peacock.
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Do you know how many there are?
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Up to you to find out.
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Tonight, we're covering the case of Simon Leviev, whose birth name is Shimon Hayute. But if that doesn't sound familiar, you might also know him by his most popular nickname, the Tinder swindler. The man who traveled the world to sweeping women off their feet and then conning them out of all of their money. All his victims wanted was love and a partner to share their lives with. But Simon only gave them a living nightmare until two brave women named Cecilia Feloi and Pernilla Shuholm helped expose his crimes. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of Simon's story because the second he got a chance, he went back to scamming innocent women. But the law caught back up with him. Just one month ago, Simon was arrested in the European country of Georgia and was accused of stealing over $52,000 from another victim. The legal process is still playing out and we're following this case closely to see what happens. But for now, let's go back to the beginning. The Tinder swindler has had many aliases over the years, but he now legally goes by Simon. So that's what we'll call him for today. When Simon was 20 or 21, he was hired as a babysitter and ended up stealing the family's checkbook. Then another family hires him as a handyman, and he steals checks from them as well. But Simon doesn't cover his tracks well because in 2011, he's caught and charged with forgery, fraud and theft. He never faces jail time, though, because he flees Israel. After that, he goes quiet for a while until he resurfaces again four years later. In 2015, this time in Finland. Armed with multiple fake passports, driver's licenses, and even pilot's licenses, Simon starts running a romance based Ponzi scheme. He adopts the nickname Simon, telling at least one person that it's easier to pronounce than his real name, though he often gives different answers when asked what his real name is. And his name isn't the only thing that changed. Simon later tells police that he's 12 years older than he actually is, which makes it easier to believe that he's an incredibly successful businessman. He meets women on Tinder and pretends to be a wealthy businessman who travels a lot for work. And all three say that Simon had told them that he was an arms dealer. He wows them with fancy hotels, expensive restaurants and luxury cars. Once he's lured them in, Simon convinces them that something had happened with his investments and he needs to borrow money, just for a little while, which he then uses to wine and dine his next victim. For some of his targets, Simon makes sure they're dependent on him before he starts scamming them. He tricks one woman into moving into an expensive apartment, saying he'll pay the rent but can't officially have it under his name. He convinces two of his victims to quit their jobs, saying he has a better one lined up for them, but it inevitably falls through, and when the time comes to repay them, Simon says he's getting audited or his accounts are frozen, which he claims happens a lot in arms dealing. He sends them fake evidence that he's trying to transfer money over. But something always conveniently goes wrong, and Simon's not just borrowing a few dollars here and there. He is bankrupting these women. One of his victims had to move back in with her parents since she didn't have any money left. This goes on for about half a year until someone reports Simon to the police. In the fall of 2015, Simon tries to tell the courts that he's not really an arms dealer, but his job is complicated and hard to explain. He claims he really is wealthy and that he's going to pay his victims back, but that his money is tied up. He also once again tries to say he'd personally met the President of Israel. The courts in Finland do not buy this. Simon is convicted on numerous counts of aggravated fraud and sentenced to two years in prison. He gets out a few months early in 2017 and is sent back to Israel to face his charges there for forgery and fraud. But before he can face justice, he flees again and legally changes his name to Simon Leviev. He starts pretending to be the son of billionaire Lev Leviev, who runs a company based in Israel called LLD Diamonds. Simon adds to his scheme by putting together a fake entourage. He has at least two accomplices who are often by his side, known by their alleged first names, Peter and Avi. He says Avi is his business manager and Peter is his bodyguard. In 2018, Simon reaches out to one of his victims in Finland. She's never given her name to the media, so we'll call her Jane Doe. Like so many other of his victims, Simon had left Jane with crippling debt and they'd also had a child together. The two want to discuss whether Simon should have a relationship with his daughter or not. He invites Jane to meet him at the airport in London, England, to talk things out. But when she gets there, he's brought a date. In addition to his fake entourage, Simon's joined by a Norwegian woman who lives in London named Cecilia Philoi. Jane claims that by this point, Simon is threatening her to go along with his schemes and pretend he really is a wealthy businessman. She says he'd even threaten their daughter. So Jane goes along with Simon's threats and helps trick this new girl, Cecilia. Jane tells her that Simon is a caring father and still takes good care of her, even though they've broken up. After this deception, Jane drops out of the story, trying her best to stay out of the media. So we don't know much else about her, but Cecilia has poured out her heart to the press. So let's get into her story. The meeting in London was actually Cecilia and Simon's first real date. They had talked very briefly over coffee, but he had told her he had to go to Bulgaria on business and he asked her to come along. He was caring, attentive, and meeting an ex girlfriend on such good terms with him had made Cecilia feel safe. So after they talk with Jane, Simon whisks Cecilia away on his private jet. They talk about deep personal things right away, and she feels there's an instant connection. She falls for him fast, and he acts equally as smitten with her. After she gets back home to London, they text and call on WhatsApp all the time. Cecilia has no reason to suspect that Simon is a fraud, but it won't be long until her perception is shattered. When Cecilia Filoy starts dating Simon Leviev in 2018, she falls for him fast. They're planning a future together, but Simon tells her that the diamond business can be dangerous. He says his family has received threats, threats and One night, he pretends like someone has acted on it. Simon sends Cecilia a series of texts, videos and voicemails detailing how he and Peter, his fake bodyguard, were attacked. He says someone tried to stab him, but they injured Peter instead. Simon tells Cecilia that it's getting harder and harder to stay safe. He claims that his enemies must be tracking his credit cards and convinces her to take out a credit card and borrow cash so Simon can travel without using any money connected to him. Cecilia wants to help, so she gives Simon everything he asks for. And when he says things have settled down, he does pay her back, which only draws Cecilia in deeper and gets her to give Simon even more money. Altogether, Cecilia estimates she lost around $250,000. And what was he doing with all of this money? Well, by then, he had another girlfriend, a model named Polina and a close friend named Pernilla Schuholm. While Simon was pretending to run from his enemies, the three of them were actually spending the summer of 2018 traveling the Mediterranean in luxury. We don't know a lot about Polina. They were only really together that summer, but. But Pernilla has also told her story to the media. Pernilla originally was interested in Simon romantically, but the two just became friends. She said Simon was caring and attentive and seemed legitimate. Pernilla had dated a man in the diamond industry before and said Simon actually knew a lot about the business. But Pernilla has no idea that while she's partying in Rome and Greece with Simon and Paulina, Cecilia is spiraling into debt. Eventually, Cecilia tells Simon he has to pay her back again, and he gives her a check for $500,000, even more than what he owes her. But the check doesn't clear. Finally, she realizes she's been scammed. Cecilia does some research and learns about the scam Simon pulled off in Finland. She realizes that he's just going to move on to another victim, so she contacts Verdun Gong or vg, one of the biggest newspapers in her home country of Norway, and asks to share her story. Cecilia gives them complete access to all of her messages with Simon, and the journalists get to work. Meanwhile, Simon has moved on to the next victim, his friend Pernilla. In the fall of 2018, news breaks that the actual Leviev family is under investigation for diamond smuggling and money laundering. Simon uses this to his advantage, telling Pernilla that his accounts are all frozen and he needs money to get to safety. He sends her the same videos of his bodyguard and him after a fake attack that he had sent Cecilia. He even sends her a news article about an employee at LLD Diamonds committing suicide and tells her that he thinks it might actually be a murder. He sounds desperate and very worried about his safety at this point. He had taken Pernilla on extravagant vacations and had been nothing but a good friend. So she does what she can to help him and sends over everything she can. But soon a journalist at VG finds her because of a plane ticket Simon had booked for her using Cecilia's credit card. Pernilla initially panics at the journalist's outreach and she asks Simon for an explanation. But when he gives her one, she isn't buying it. She agrees to meet with the journalists and they concoct a plan to help catch Simon. Simon had asked her to fly to Munich to meet with him so he could pay her back with one of his expensive watches. The journalists from VG all tag along. They want to film Simon to show the police where he was. When Pernilla gets to Munich, she meets with Simon and his alleged business manager, Avi. The entire time, Pernilla is just thinking about how much Simon has wronged her and other women and is wondering what poor girl is paying for their expensive meal. When they leave the restaurant, the journalists do manage to get some videos, but they're spotted. Simon and Avi tell Pernilla to get in their car and they speed around the city trying to lose anyone who might be tailing them. They're speaking in Hebrew and Pernilla is scared they're onto her because she doesn't understand what they're saying. She knows she's got to keep Simon on her side and she pretends to be scared that it's his enemies and that they're coming after her. She convinces him to let her out of the car while they speed away. After this, Pernilla is done pretending. She calls Simon to confront him and he denies everything, becoming defensive and irate. He even resorts to threatening her, saying, you double cross me, you're gonna pay for it. But Simon's threats are starting to feel toothless. By this point, journalists at VG have accumulated more than enough information to write an article. And on February 16, 2019, they publish the piece. They call it the Tinder Swindler. And before long, people all across the globe are reading about Simon. That includes one of his girlfriends at the time, a woman who lives in the city of Prague named Eileen Charlotte, who he'd been seeing for just over a year. Eileen's knee jerk reaction is to text Simon for an explanation when she sees the article, but she quickly realizes she she doesn't believe any of his excuses. The article includes pictures and videos Simon had sent Cecilia, and Eileen realizes he'd sent her those exact same messages. There's no doubt about it, he's a liar. But Eileen doesn't let Simon know that she pretends to be the loving, loyal girlfriend he thinks she is. And the next time Simon asks her for money, she says sure, no problem. But Eileen has other plans. She's going to give Simon a taste of his own medicine and scam the scammer.
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This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Everyone is telling her she dreamt it, but in the woman in cabin 10, Lo Blacklock is determined to uncover the truth in the gripping new thriller coming to Netflix October 10th. Keira Knightley plays a journalist aboard a luxury yacht who witnesses a crime she can't unsee. Adapted from Ruth Ware's best selling novel, directed by Simon Stone. Watch the woman in Cabin 10 now only on Netflix.
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After the VG newspaper publishes their article about the Tinder swindler in February 2019. Simon Leviev tries to get his girlfriend Eileen Charlotte to help him out. He tries to get her to sell her car or her house to pay him to get out of trouble, but she'd already given him around $140,000 by that point, so she tells him that's all she really has. Eileen talks him into letting her sell some of his wardrobe instead. She works in the fashion industry and assures Simon that she can flip his exposure expensive clothing quickly. She packs up three suitcases worth of designer items, but never sends Simon any money for it. After a few weeks go by, Simon realizes he's been scammed himself. He sends Eileen a barrage of threatening messages, even mentioning her family in some of them. But between those threats, he's still trying to get her back onto his good side. As for Aileen, she's keeping in touch with Simon because she wants to keep tabs on him so the authorities can track him down soon. He asks for a plane ticket because he says he needs to go to Greece to get away Eileen refuses, but keeps in regular contact with him. One day, Simon's offline for a while and she knows he's on a plane because he never ignores his phone. So Eileen looks up flights from Prague to Greece and sees one that left around the time he went offline. She sends the flight info to the authorities, and Israeli police and Interpol are waiting for Simon when he lands. At this point, the estimated amount he's stolen and swindled from various women is around $10 million. He's brought back to Israel yet again in late 2019, where Simon is finally tried for the fraud he allegedly committed, while all the way back to 2011, he's found guilty. But the charges only carry a sentence of 15 months and he only ends up serving a third of that because of overcrowding issues. When the COVID pandemic begins in 2020, Israel selects some nonviolent inmates for early release and Simon is let out just after five months. His victims are outraged. A Finnish woman who said Simon conned her out of almost $50,000 told the Times of Israel, it's a disgrace that he was released from prison. I hope he gets the coronavirus. I hope he dies. Meanwhile, Simon is back to traveling the world and is on the lookout for new victims. But it's not so easy to find them anymore. In February of 2022, Netflix releases a documentary about Simon that expands on the original VG article. It quickly jumps to the top of the charts as the most watched documentary on Netflix in 90 different countries. Among the people who check it out are Simon himself and his girlfriend at the time, a 23 year old model named Kate Conlon. Simon convinces her to defend him in the press since the documentary is making headlines and she does her best to defend him. Kate later says that he would always find something to criticize, like her weight, and even isolated her from her friends. Kate also loaned him money, of course, and about a month after the documentary came out, she had enough. She packed her bags and tells him that she is leaving and Simon is not happy about that. They get into a fight and Simon allegedly shoves Kate to the ground where she slices open her foot on a stone step so badly she has to get it treated at the hospital. After that, Simon has nobody left to defend him. He drops off the radar for a bit until 2024, when news breaks that he'd swindled yet another woman out of her money, about $130,000. And then he'd swindled a second woman into writing a check to pay back the first one. But he's running out of people to scam he. And In March of 2024, the actual Leviev family takes Simon to court for pretending to be one of them. Ruthie Leviev Levizarov, who is the real daughter of Lev Leviev, testifies against Simon. She said she's gotten numerous messages over the years about her brother writing checks that bounced. Ruthie says that bankers had even contacted her to trying to figure out problems with the plane tickets and boats being rented under suspicious circumstances, asking her to please get a hold of her supposed brother. In his defense, Simon argues that he's not impersonating anyone because people can Google the Leviev family and see that they don't have a son named Simon. More than a year later, this lawsuit is still going on as of this recording. Which brings us to our other ongoing updates. In the early months of 2025, Simon goes on numerous podcasts trying to prove his innocence. He says that he never stole any money and that the women who spoke out against him have simply been lying. He talks about starting his own dating app and even claims he is going to be involved in some kind of Netflix follow up movie. And early this September, he announces on Instagram that that he would be publishing a memoir, one that claims he tells the truth about his life. But only about a week later, Simon is arrested. Interpol put out a red notice on him, which is a worldwide request to have someone located and provisionally arrested. He's taken into custody on September 14, 2025 at Batumi International Airport in the country of Georgia. Simon's accused of stealing over $52,000 from a woman in Germany. As of this recording, he's being held in jail in Georgia for either three months or until Germany decides to extradite him. If Simon has his way, he won't face any punishment at all. And his lawyer is trying to get the charges dismissed. And considering his history, there's no telling what might happen next. We'll be following this case close closely as Simon tries to get out of his latest legal battle. Whatever he does, we'll be sure to bring you all of the major updates. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel @Crime House daily and follow us on social media rimehouse247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops.
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Uh, limu.
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Excludes Massachusetts.