Photograph: Netflix
Several of the participants in The Tinder Swindler (Netflix) describe the extraordinary events relayed in the documentary as like being in a film. One woman talks about being romanced by a man she met on the dating app. He called himself Simon Leviev. Their first date started at a five-star hotel and extended to a spontaneous trip on a private jet. Another woman (and there are many women), further down the line, says she feels as if she is in “a horror movie”. Given the show’s title, it isn’t too much of a giveaway to reveal that Leviev, who claimed to be the son of a billionaire diamond dealer, was not the wealthy, suave suitor he made himself out to be online, but a convicted conman named Shimon Hayut.
Audiences love nothing more than a scam, from the podcast Sweet Bobby to the fascinating case of the “fake heiress” Anna Delvey. This slots neatly into the pantheon. It is a pacy, gripping feature-length film that lays everything out with precision and offers plenty of compassion for the victims.
