Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Tinder Swindler' Busted Again in Mysterious International Arrest

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

A man known as the Tinder Swindler is back in the headlines after his arrest in the country of Georgia. The convicted fraudster was featured in a Netflix documentary on online romance scams. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber digs into what we know so far about Simon Leviev’s detention and what he’s been up to since his rise to international notoriety with international law attorney David Tafuri.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Grow your own audience today – go to https://www.opus.pro/sidebar for 1 week free plus 50% off the 3 months of Opus Pro. HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A man known as the Tinder Swindler is back in the headlines. While a new documentary following one of his apparent victims premieres on Netflix, the alleged con artist has been arrested. We're digging into what we know so far about his detention and what he's been up to since his rise to international notoriety. And we're going to break it down with international law attorneys.

David DeFurrie. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Well, it is more bad news for 34-year-old Simon Levive, who was born in Israel, has the birth name Shimon Hayut. This is the guy better known worldwide as the Tinder Swindler, right? You probably have heard that moniker before because he gained that name thanks to a 2022 Netflix documentary with the same title. Three women, they shared their stories of how they were conned into thinking Levive 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 has no connection to Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Lev Lev. But according to

the BBC, he legally changed his name to make himself seem more credible. He then apparently conned his way into the lives of multiple women across Europe using the dating app Tinder, scamming them out of a reported $10 million. According to the documentary, LeVive would take the women on these incredibly lavish dates. For example, he flew one woman on a private jet from London to Bulgaria for their first date. But after love bombing them and showering them with expensive gifts, he then reportedly would claim he couldn't use his credit cards anymore because of threats against him. So the allegation was he would have them open up accounts and loan them money.

Then, when he did pay the women back, it kind of worked like a Ponzi scheme. He would take money from one alleged victim to pay off another and another and so on, right, this cycle while continuing to live his lavish lifestyle. So when this documentary premiered in 2022, it absolutely blew up. You probably watched it. According to the BBC, it was Netflix's most watched documentary in 90 countries when it was released. And by the way, during that time, it was reported, LeVive, was apparently still active on Tinder.

However, in a statement of variety, the company said, we have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Levive is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases. At the time, Levive told Inside Edition that he was a, quote, legitimate businessman who made his fortune investing in cryptocurrency and that he was just trying to meet girls on Tinder. He told the outlet, quote,

I was surprised how many girls wanted me and how many girls offer to travel to meet me without them knowing me. I'm not this monster that everybody has created. He also defended his decision to change his last name, telling Israel's Channel 12 News, I have the right to choose whatever name I want. I never presented myself as the son of anyone, but people use their imaginations.

But now we got to talk about what just happened, because it appears that Simon LeVive is once again in trouble with international law enforcement. So to talk about this, Talk about the latest details on LeVives detainment, what this means, what is going on. By the way, as well as his past infamous behavior, I want to bring in international attorney David to Furry. David, thank you so much for coming on. Not a lot of information, right?

But based on what we can see on LeVive's social media pages, he has leaned into his notoriety. He has apparently launched a Bitcoin based on his Tinder exploits. Not all of that attention is going to be positive. It can put you in the crosshairs of law enforcement. as well. But what is going on here? Are international agencies going to be keeping an eye on him? I mean, what is happening in your opinion? So like you said, there's not a lot of information. The way that the Interpol red notice works is part of why we don't yet know what he's been charged with. Because the way Interpol works is

if you're a country and you're a member of Interpol and almost all countries around the world are members of Interpol, you're law enforcement. can make an application to Interpol. Normally, it has to be supported with an indictment or what would be an indictment in a particular country's criminal system or analogous to an indictment. And if that indictment demonstrates to Interpol that there's sufficient evidence to suggest that a person has committed a crime, then Interpol will issue a red notice. And all countries around the world that are part of Interpol are then supposed to flag the fact that a person is coming to that country as a result of the red notice and they're supposed to arrest that

person and hold that person until the country that has made the application for the red notice can then extradite that person or make a filing in the criminal court of the country where the person is being held to prove that they have sufficient charges to extradite him or her back to their country to stand trial yeah let me emphasize that because it happened on sunday LeVive was detained at the Batumi International Airport in the country of Georgia. There was apparently at least one red notice from Interpol. He was detained. According to Interpol's website, there are currently more than 6,000 red notices in circulation right now. A couple of things with this. Does that mean that this is a severe crime?

Does that mean if you're going to involve Interpol and you're going to issue a red notice, this is a severe crime? And does it give you an indication of what potential crime this is? I can't remember exactly what level of crime it has to be to qualify for a red notice under Interpol. I think it may be like something equivalent to a felony in our U.S. system, but I'm not totally certain about that. But the most important part about this for why we don't know more about what is going on here is because that process of getting a red notice is confidential. It's not made public. Interpol doesn't make it public normally that there's a red notice for. someone that's in order to surprise that person so the person feels comfortable traveling and it's easier to apprehend that person in a foreign country that is cooperating with interpol by the way talking

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This is a really fresh story. Does that mean that it's going to change? Maybe, you know, by the end of the week, we'll get an understanding of what's going on here. Yes. As soon as he is presented to a judge in the country of Georgia, it is likely that the charges against him will be made public or at least some information about the charges will be made public. And that could include the country that has made those charges against him. How long can they keep somebody detained on a red notice? That's going to depend on the particular country where he is. And that's going to depend upon Georgia's laws, therefore. And I'm not sure exactly what Georgia's laws say with respect to criminal procedure, how long you can be kept before.

you're presented to a judge, but most countries in order to show that they're cooperating with Interpol will bring the person before a judge very quickly because they want to demonstrate due process. Now, Levive's attorney told the Israeli outlet Walla on Sunday that it wasn't clear exactly why his client was detained, saying, I spoke to him this morning after he was detained, but we don't know what the cause is. He travels freely around the world. Is that unusual? If that's true, is that unusual that his attorney wouldn't be told what he's being detained for? Well, his attorney needs to be told at some point. It may not be unusual that, you know, a day or two later, he still hasn't been told. But he certainly has to be told before that person is presented to a judge. He's obviously entitled to have legal counsel. And he need his legal counsel needs to at least understand the basis of the charges against him to provide him with good legal advice and a proper defense. By the way, according to reporting from the Daily Mail, LeVive has been wanted by German authorities for a string of fraud and theft cases.

under multiple aliases. The Daily Mail reports that Germany issued an international arrest warrant against Levive on suspicion of money laundering, tax evasion, crypto fraud back in 2022. And I do want to take a look at some of Levive's past crimes. Okay. So the independent reports that LeVive was arrested for defrauding three women in Finland back in 2015. He reportedly spent some time in prison before being sent back to his home country. Two years later, 2017, according to the Times of Israel, LeVive fled Israel to try to avoid trial on fraud-related charges. For two years, he traveled around Europe as a wanted fugitive, but he was arrested in Greece in 2019 for using a fake passport.

So he was extradited back to Israel. He was convicted of four charges of fraud, sentenced to 15 months in prison, and he only served five before getting out. Some outlets report this was because of good behavior. Others say it was because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he was ordered to pay victims around 35,000 pounds in compensation. He had to pay a fine of more than 4,000 pounds.

for having a fake passport. David, this gives us insight into his background, but also if it's true based on what his attorney said, how was he able to freely travel around the world? Well, what that demonstrates is there are a lot of different possible bases for charges against him in countries around the world. It very well could be that this is Germany,

that Germany finally made an application to Interpol and asked for a red notice and that Germany now wants to bring him back for those charges that you mentioned, you mentioned, or it could be any of the other countries. It could relate to past crimes, crimes before the Tinder Swindler film came out, or it could be new crimes because, you know, this is a person who's demonstrated an intent to defraud people. He has a, you know, very expensive taste. So he's likely still on the edge of what is legal in order to earn money. And when you look

at those past cases and past allegations, that can sometimes start a new investigation. It could bring people forward. It could alert foreign authorities, right? Yeah, absolutely. And the crimes that he was involved in, or I should say the schemes he was involved in, bring in so many different crimes because he's laundering money. He's, it's credit card fraud, it's bank fraud, as well as, you know, fraud defrauding the women who were involved. And so there were a lot of different potential charges. Now, some of them would be subject to statute limitations, but statute of limitations periods vary across the world. By the way, if you have so many red notices that are issued, is it difficult for them to

actually lead to someone being arrested, someone being detained? Is this one of those special cases where it actually, a red notice was issued and LeVive was detained? I mean, how many times have they been issued or in your experience you see them issued and, you know, they're still looking for the person? Well, the red notice process obviously is now very electronic with computers, you know, being able to communicate with each other. So ideally, especially if you're in a first world country with state-of-the-art systems at the airport and other ports of entry and departure, because of the red notice, a person should be flagged when they're entering or departing, and so they should be arrested. Now, that doesn't always work.

Doesn't always work smoothly, especially if you're in the developing world, they may not have real-time access to the new red notices that are put out. By the way, LeVive is also part of ongoing litigation in Israel. It was brought by the real LeVive family. They claim that he unjustly enriched himself by using their last name, hurt the family's reputation with his bad behavior. I mentioned before how he went on record and basically said, hey, I'm allowed to change my name to wherever I want.

People can make whatever connections they want. I don't know if you've had a chance to look at that case, but do you think they have a case? I think they do. I mean, if you watch the Tinder Swindler film, he certainly profited off the name, and he certainly was portraying himself as a relative of them, which he was not, and made all sorts of other schemes that were based on his relationship to the family, which he did not. It looked like he doctored pictures of himself with the family. So I think there would be a number of bases for the family to make such a case.

against him. Yeah, let me talk about that a little bit more about the Tinler Swindler. So when the Tinler Swindler documentary came out, LeVive was dating a model named Kate Conlin. At first, she stood by him, right, supporting him in the onslaught of accusations that were leveled against him. However, in a 2023 interview with the BBC, Conlin said she felt she had no choice because she was under his emotional control. She says eventually the online abuse against her became too much. And when she tried to end the relationship and leave, she claims LeVive pushed her and she cut her foot on a step with a rough edge. The BBC reports that she filed a complaint against LeVive with the police and he denied ever hurting her. But now LeVive's story is back on Netflix.

There is a brand new series called Love Con Revenge. And one of the women featured in the Tindler Swindler documentary, Cecilia Felhoi, apologies if I mispronounced the last name, apparently fell for Levi. after moving from Norway to London. She claims he stole $250,000 from her through an intricate web of lives. And as part of LoveCon revenge, she teams up with a private investigator to help catch scammers praying on women online. She told the cosmopolitan UK, romance fraud should be called manipulation abuse. The laws aren't fit for today where huge amounts of money can be transferred instantly. Perpetrators aren't getting harsh enough punishments where they get a few years and then go out and offend again. We need to have this crime taken more seriously. Why should

perpetrators get off scot-free while the victims are left with all the responsibility? We need to see a major societal shift. David, do you agree? I do agree. The woman you're talking about is, you know, one of the key characters in the Tindler-Swindler film. And she's the one that I think you get, have the most sympathy for because she seems like such a nice person. She truly fell in love with the Tinder Swindler. She's very genuine about how that happened. And so she makes a very good point. I mean, she was completely deceived and the law was broken. In her case, there was certainly credit card fraud. And he induced her to engage in credit card fraud. So I can imagine that she, you know, she has a very personal experience. And that's why she's now going forward with

this new show to try to help other people who have also been defrauded. And when you see, something being amplified by a movie, by a documentary, by a series, I mean, by media reporting or, you know, newspaper articles, that can really create change. That can create awareness. I mean, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly. This is something you're seeing even again on an international stage. Absolutely. I mean, you know better than anyone. Criminals now, because there's such a, you know, a huge interest and curiosity about true crime, criminals now become infamous. And as a result of that infamy, law enforcement officials are broadened to go after them when maybe they wouldn't have gone after them otherwise. And here's something else to think about. Okay. So despite his prior

convictions, the serious ethical questions surrounding his alleged behavior, LeVive still has a substantial following on social media. He has 256,000 followers on Instagram, another 36,000 on his TikTok. But this Instagram appears to be just the latest in a string of accounts. On November 8th, 2024, the account Simon Leviv 8 posted a photo with the caption, my old account, Simon Leviv 7 got blocked. This is my new one. The so-called Swindler also announced just 10 days ago that he has a book coming out. It's apparently called The Story Behind the Man. There's an accompanying caption that reads, I never asked to be famous. I never chose the spotlight. One day I woke up and the whole thought they knew who I was. They watched a movie. They binged a TV series. They read sensational

headlines. And just like that, my name, my face, my life became public property. But nobody ever stopped to ask me what really happened. For years, I stayed silent, too long, but silence is a luxury I no longer have. I became a celebrity against my will. And if that's my reality, then at least I'll use it to finally tell the truth. And at the end of the lengthy post, he encourages as fans read it, then decide what you believe. David, do you think that was a good decision to come out with a publication, a way, maybe not even a legal defense, but more of a PR defense, to say, hey, I'm going to reverse the narrative here.

I mean, to me, it is just an extenuation of the fraud, right? This is a person who thrived on fraud, who had expensive taste and through fraud, was able to feed those expensive tastes. He's lost his earlier way of defrauding people. No one's going to fall for that with him on, you know, social media on dating apps anymore. So this is a new way to do fraud. He has a story.

He's going to spin what happened. I'm sure he's innocent in his story and his book. And there's enough interest around the world that people are going to probably buy things from him. And that's how he's now going to continue to make money. He has to continue, you know, perpetuate the myth that he's innocent in order to continue to get attract viewers and supporters and have an audience that will pay for his things well i am curious to see what this red notice is about i'm curious to see what potential charges he may be facing and the response from him and his legal team as this advances so we'll keep a careful eye on

this one as well david to furry thank you so much for taking the time good to see you thanks jesse and that is all we have for you right now here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time.