Breaking Down The Characters From The Must Watch "Tinder Swindler" Documentary
"The Tinder Swindler" on Netflix is the next documentary that everyone is going to be talking about. It's only been out for a few days and is already picking up steam. I think this will end up being close to the Fyre Fest documentary in terms of popularity. Hubbs already blogged it last night, but I wanted to give it even more attention today because it deserves it. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd throw a borderline must watch tag on it.
A very basic summary is that there's this guy Simon Leviev who uses Tinder to meet women and then defraud them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in a Ponzi Scheme while maintaining this fake identity that he's a millionaire who works in the diamond industry. These women lend him money because he needs to protect himself from his make believe "enemies." And since they're in love with him and believe he's a millionaire who will pay them back, they take out a bunch of loans to help him, putting themselves in crippling debt while he just takes the money and moves on to the next girl. This guy walked so West Elm Caleb could run.
This would be a great fictional story. But the fact that it's all real (supposedly) makes it even more incredible. Lies. Drama. Sex. Revenge. Enemies. Money. It has everything. And most of all, it has an incredible cast of characters that are so unique/stupid/diabolical you almost wouldn't believe they're real people. Let's highlight some of them.
Cecilie
Cecilie is the main victim that the documentary focuses on. She met Simon on Tinder in London and on their first date, she ended up flying on a private jet with him. After meeting each other only a few times, they were going to move in together. But this is when trouble started. Simon kept asking for her to lend him money because his supposed "enemies" were coming after him and he couldn't have them tracking his credit cards and all that. She ended up taking out loans totaling like hundreds of thousands of dollars to send to him and then he ghosted her. She ended up reaching out to a huge Norway newspaper for an investigation that eventually led to his downfall.
Now I feel bad saying this because Cecilie is a clear victim here. But Cecilie is also a fucking idiot. I'm pretty sure she had met Simon like twice before she started sending him tens of thousands of dollars. She didn't think that was a little bit of a red flag? This supposed multi, multi, millionaire needed loans over and over and over again? I know he had his bullshit story about his enemies but COME ON. She should've done a little more research into his fake diamond business or just demanded more answers from him. I understand that love makes people do crazy things, but these were just downright moronic things. I feel bad she lost all that money but I mean…. she's also pretty stupid for falling for it. That being said, credit to her for seeking revenge and reaching out to the Norway newspaper to get this story moving. Without Cecilie doing that, there's a chance Simon never gets caught. So credit to her. But the real hero of the story here is….
Ayleen
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BAD. ASS. BITCH. Grudge Ayleen is up there with Grudge Dave. She was bloodthirsty for revenge and just straight up diabolical. Probably my favorite person in this whole thing. She dated Simon for 14 (FOURTEEN!) months and lent him over $100,000. Once she saw the story in the newspaper about him, she decided to get her revenge. She told him she'd help sell all his designer clothes for money but just kept all the money for herself and was still getting offers on them in the middle of the documentary!!! We stan a vengeful queen! She also is the reason he got caught by authorities because she tracked what flight he was on and told Interpol so he got arrested right when he landed. And the best part? He still had no clue it was her! She said that he'll find out as he watches the documentary for the first time. Awesome. She is our true hero in this story.
Pernilla
Pernilla's story is the most confusing of all. She also got swindled by The Tinder Swindler, but they were just friends??? They met on Tinder and went one date but apparently had no sexual chemistry so decided to just stay friends. She would watch him go after other girls and vacation with him and his girlfriend. Eventually, he asked her for tens of thousands of dollars too. And she obliged. Talk about an unbelievable friend. I guess if you thought Simon was your boyfriend like Cecilie and Ayleen did, it made more sense to give him the money. But just a platonic pal? I guess points to Pernilla for the loyalty but again, pretty dumb and naive to believe him and keep sending him all this money. She does get credit though for her incredible acting job when she led the reporters to Simon to photograph him and she managed to twist it back on him and scream at him until he let her out of the car. She deserves an Academy Award for that performance when it should've been abundantly obvious that she was the one who set it up.
Mystery Baby Momma
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Maybe the most fascinating figure in this whole saga. Cecilie met this woman on the private plane on her first date with Simon. Simon told her she's his ex and they have a child together. Quite a first date to meet an ex and a child. She told Cecilie that Simon was a great dad and took good care of them. In a post-credits note, it says she denies any wrongdoing. But we still know nothing about her. My best guess is that she was a target of Simon in his original scheming days back in Finland? But maybe since he impregnated her he didn't want to scam her for money? Maybe she knew and he gave her hush money to keep her quiet and promised a lavish lifestyle for her and their daughter? Or maybe she genuinely had no clue he was a fraud and was just happy to have a rich baby daddy giving her money? Or maybe she's in on it and a mastermind behind the whole operation? Lot of possibilities here. Would love to know more about her.
Peter the bodyguard
We don't know much about Peter. We just know he's a bodyguard for Simon and allegedly got beat up by Simon's enemies. I just wanted to give him a quick shoutout for taking what looks like a very real beating for this fake story. Incredible loyalty from Peter there. We have to assume he was in on it, but he's never been charged, and neither has his business partner Avishay. Maybe we can really put on our tin foil caps and say maybe they weren't in on it and Simon hired some random dudes to beat up Peter and make it look like these enemies were real? Hmmmmmm. Or maybe Peter just took like a drunk fall one day and Simon saw an opportunity to capitalize?
Simon's ex-girlfriend Polina
Another character we don't know too much about. She was dating Simon while vacationing together in Mykonos when Pernilla was there. She apparently broke up with him when she found out he was cheating on her with all these women, but it doesn't seem like she was defrauded. Maybe she was his "real" girlfriend and he used these other girlfriend to fund his relationship with her? That's my best guess.
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Simon's Mom
We only had a quick scene with Simon's mom but it's pretty clear she wanted absolutely fucking nothing to do with her scumbag son. I guess he was up to his fraudulent ways even as a kid in Israel and was wanted for arrest there and then fled. Pretty shitty son to be living this billionaire lifestyle while his mom was seemingly living in poverty back in Israel.
That poor diamond company
Just a quick shoutout to this poor diamond company that got accused for diamond smuggling and having ties to Russia and all that. Just completely made up from Simon. What fascinates me is how he got the Google results to back up all his claims. They looked like legit articles. He also was able to somehow make that Cecilie girl named CEO of a diamond company he didn't work even at??? The man was a master of his craft. Which brings us to….
Simon Leviev
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The star of the show. Just an all-time scumbag. A truly despicable person. But with that being said, Simon might be the greatest conman of all time. He might be better at what he does than anyone else in the world. Can't help but be somewhat impressed with what he's managed to pull off. He originally pulled off a similar stunt in Finland around 2015 and went to jail for a bit. You'd think maybe he learned his lesson right? Nope. He came out of prison with a vengeance and pulled off an even bigger scheme than before, the one the documentary focuses. He defrauded dozens of people for millions and millions of dollars. Just a giant Ponzi Scheme. Make one woman fall in love with him. Ask for her a bunch of money. Get the money. Ghost her. Move onto the next. And on and on it went. All while keeping up this millionaire lifestyle. Guy must have been having the time of his life, to be honest. Dating a bunch of hot girls and having them all send him money so he can then spend that money on other hot girls? He probably couldn't believe it worked. I can't believe it worked either. Guy must have been quite a charmer to get these women to fall so in love with him after like two dates that they started sending him their life savings.
All it took was a simple lie about his "enemies." I laughed every single time he brought it up. "I need $100,000 to protect myself from my enemies. Please help me." Just took that one picture of his bloodied body guard that got used over and over and over for people to believe him. The lengths he went to keep up this life of lies was ridiculous. Talk about commitment to the bit. Guy just fucking loved defrauding people of money. From back in Israel, to Finland, to this whole scandal, it was just like his favorite thing to do. He couldn't get enough of it. An addiction to scheming.
And the craziest thing is …. HE'S STILL DOING IT. You would assume that after he got caught thanks to Ayleen, he probably got locked up for a very long time, right? Nope. He only went to jail for 5 months!!! How???? I guess technically it's not a crime to ask people for money and have them send it to you, but he was clearly doing some stolen identity and fraudulent stuff. But you'd have to think that after getting caught again, he probably decided to live a low-key life and get a job as a cashier or something right? Learn his lesson and move on with his life? NOPE.
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My guy Simon got BACK on Tinder. Started selling a fughazi business course for $311. Somehow got filthy rich again. And now lives as a free man with a smokeshow model girlfriend. Talk about coming out on top. I think I may have to sign up for his business course? Now this begs the question. Is he just back to his old tricks? Is there going to be a very awkward conversation soon where his girlfriend says. "Wait so I'm not getting that money back I lent you, am I?" It seemed like they were still together up until a few days but there's rumors they've broken up now. Who knows? He'll probably just end up with another smokeshow soon because it's clear women just can't resist this dickhead.
Also since being released, he reportedly faked being a medical professional to get the vaccine early. And then started posing as a real estate mogul and started getting featured in articles.
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He is somehow doing it again!!! He says he's suing Netflix for it and that it's all lies and he'll tell his side of the story soon. But I wouldn't put anything past this guy. He's capable of anything. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if Simon is the producer of this whole documentary. Just can't stop, won't stop getting rich at the expense of others. Again, I want to reiterate. He is a despicable scumbag who should be in prison but you can't help but be impressed with the way he continually pulls off these schemes.
I can't wait for more info to come out of this saga. I'm addicted to it. Crazy move of him to keep deleting his Instagram. A true opportunist would know this is a way to boost those followers up.