It would seem the tables have been turned on ‘The Tinder Swindler’ Shimon Hayut after he was himself scammed out of $6,664 by a woman who claimed her boyfriend worked for Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta.
According to reports – since confirmed to LADbible by sources close to the matter – the woman reached out via Hayut’s Instagram DMs and said that her boyfriend could get him and his girlfriend verified on Instagram.
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Hayut – whose scams under the name Simon Leviev were the subject of a huge Netflix documentary series – agreed to a FaceTime call with the boyfriend, who – TMZ reports – seemed to be in a busy office space at the time.
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It all must have seemed convincing enough to Hayut, who you’d think would recognise an elaborate scam when he saw one – and in the end he fell for it.
The claim was that in order for him and his girlfriend to be verified and have fraudulent accounts deleted, he’d have to pay out the cash.
In two separate payments via PayPal to the girlfriend and boyfriend – if they really are together – he forked over $6,664 (£4,971) in total.
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After that, his manager became suspicious and reached out to Meta in the hope of finding the employee was real.
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Of course, we now know they weren’t.
Meta said that they never charge for verifications, and anyone who says otherwise is likely a scammer.
After the money was with them, the pair completely vanished, 86ing their accounts and leaving no trace whatsoever.
This latest development comes after the real Leviev family, a prominent Israeli family, announced that they plan to sue Hayut for impersonating a member of their family during the time documented in the Netflix series.
According to the filed suit, Hayut made ‘false representations as being the son of Lev Leviev and [received] numerous benefits (including material ones), cunningly and using false words’.
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Chagit Leviev, the daughter of Lev, told NBC News that she’s glad his ruse was uncovered.
She said: “Shimon Hayut is a fraud who stole our family’s identity and has tried to exploit our good name to con victims out of millions of dollars.
"I am relieved that his real identity and actions have been globally exposed."
She added: "Hopefully this will bring an end to his unscrupulous actions.”
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In case you’re new to this, and you’ve somehow managed to get to the end without having any prior knowledge of this story, you can still see The Tinder Swindler on Netflix now.
Topics: The Tinder Swindler, Netflix, TV and Film, Weird, Money
Tom Wood