In the Netflix Documentary, “The Tinder Swindler”, the wound cuts deep for Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, Ayleen Charlotte and plenty of others who fell victim to a massive online romance scam.
It is the story of Shimon Hayut, a known fraudster to authorities in his home country, Israel. Posing as wealthy diamond mogul, Simon Leviev, Shimon quickly lures in unsuspecting women looking for love on dating app, Tinder.
The relationship moves quick and since he travels a lot for work, he starts out taking women on first dates on private jets to different countries, showing the life of luxury he is able to offer. Everything seems to go swimmingly, until trouble strikes.
Simon (Shimon) claims that his enemies have been tracking him via his purchases, but his new beau can help by opening a credit card, sending money, etc. so that he cannot be tracked. The women wanting to help, follow the requests, with the promise of being paid back once the “danger is gone.” When repayment is sent, the check bounces, and the women are left with a myriad of debt, or diminished savings.
After some investigating, it is discovered that this romance scam went much deeper than one or two women. Shimon was using one funds to pay for the next woman’s fund, that woman’s funds to pay for the one after, and so on… A giant romance scam Ponzi scheme.
We know that many women think this couldn’t happen to them, but the truth of the matter is, it’s not that uncommon. A whopping loss of $547 million was reported in 2021 alone due to online romance scams.
It is imperative that you do your research before getting duped by a romance scam. Some of these impersonators aren’t as obvious as you’d expect and taking a deep dive into who they are can prove extremely beneficial.
ASG Investigations has created an Online Dating Investigation, solely dedicated to assisting clients in getting the information needed to make informed decisions before deciding to proceed with an online relationship, whether that be determining a profile is completely phony or doing research into someone’s background, we can help. Call ASG today to see how we can help you get the information needed before you proceed with an online romance!