Shimon Yehuda Hayut — who also goes by the name Simon Leviev but is famously known as the Tinder Swindler — has been arrested in Georgia on Interpol’s request.
Hayut’s lawyer and Georgian officials confirmed that the 35-year-old was taken into custody when he arrived at Batumi International Airport on Sunday morning (local time).
Per The Daily Telegraph, the Georgian Interior Ministry said Hayut was arrested on a “Red Notice” from Interpol once he entered the country. However, according to his lawyer, it’s not known exactly why he was arrested.
“I spoke with him this morning after he was detained, but we don’t yet understand the reason. He has been travelling freely around the world,” Hayut’s lawyer told Walla, an Israeli publication.
Hayut gained infamy in 2022 when Netflix dropped its hit documentary The Tinder Swindler, which exposed his string of alleged scams against multiple women in which he is said to have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars through the popular dating app.
According to the documentary and the accounts of his victims, Hayut allegedly lied to multiple women by claiming to be the son of a diamond tycoon. After a love bombing these women, promising them a life of luxury, and leading them to believe they were in a serious relationship, he would claim his life was in danger and would ask to use their credit cards.
Per the documentary, it’s alleged that Hayut gained at least USD$10 million from these women.
Following the release of The Tinder Swindler, which went gangbusters on the platform, Hayut denied the allegations and claimed to be a “legitimate businessman” who made cash through bitcoin. He was also banned from dating apps as a result of the allegations.
In 2011, Hayut fled to Israel before he could be sentenced on convictions of fraud, theft and forgery, The Daily Telegraph reports.
From 2015 to 2017, the conman served two years in a Finnish prison for defrauding several women before he was sent back to Israel in 2017. He then left Israel again with a fake passport before he was caught in 2019 by Interpol in Greece.
He was then sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud in Israel. However, he was released early in May 2020 after serving five months due to COVID-19 prison concerns.
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