Tinder Swindler who stole $10 million from women launches his own dating app

The man who Netflix based a whirlwind documentary on – the Tinder Swindler – has come out to reveal his plans to launch his own dating app.

Life has a way of being a little odd, and when it comes to Shimon Hayut's choice to set up a dating platform...it's an eyebrow raiser.

That's because the 2022 documentary saw him allegedly stealing millions from women he matched with on the dating app, Tinder.

Leviev apparently had scammed his victims by pretending to be a wealthy businessman, and after developing relationships with the women, began to ask for money – stating he was in financial difficulty.

However, promised he was good to pay it back soon.

In the end, he allegedly got millions from the women, pretended his name was Simon Leviev, son of a billionaire diamond trader named Lev Leviev, and more.

Shimon Hayut was arrested and charged (Netflix)

Hayut was subsequently sent to prison in 2019, but was reportedly released in 2020 after serving five months during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 35-year-old has since revealed his plans to launch a dating app of his own, despite his history with the services, leaving to This Morning hosts to call it 'really distasteful'.

Speaking on the UK's ITV show, the Tinder Swindler revealed he can work around the existing dating apps on the market, saying: “I do know how to get out, I lived 10 years on a false passport so, yeah I do know how to lie, I do know how to cheat and I do know how to manipulate.

“It’s not something I hide, I falsify a cheque, I live ten years under a false identity. When I was 20 years old, I travelled on a 36-year-old’s passport, so yes I crossed hundreds of border controls around the world.”

He added: “Obviously I’ve been convicted, obviously I’m not proud of it, but it makes me a set of skills that some other people don’t have.”

But host, Ben Shepard, was quick to interrupt as he said: “I’m gonna be honest Simon… I’m really sorry, you say you’re not proud of it but it certainly sounds like you’re proud of it.

“It certainly sounds like the notoriety, what you’ve achieved, what you’ve been through and yes you have been in jail and served your time for a number of crimes, not all the crimes you’ve been accused of.

“But it certainly sounds like you’re listing those things like accolades, which means you are perfectly positioned to now launch another business rather than saying because I have done all these things I want to turn over a new leaf.”

The host added: “There will be people watching this today who think it’s really distasteful that you’re launching a dating app… You’re notorious for being anything other than trustworthy.”

The Swindler seemed unapologetic for what was shown in the doc, earning another scolding from Ben.

He blasted Hayut for his attitude toward the allegations against him, particularly when he called the Netflix doc, a 'nice story'.

Ben said: “Simon! Simon! Simon! I think quantifying it as nice is really distasteful and of course it’s not a ‘nice’ story.

“I think what your saying is a narrative, an interesting narrative and there’s nothing nice about The Tinder Swindler and there’s nothing nice about what it is that these women went through and they have accused you of.

“Nice, is not a word that I think that is suitable in this position.”

Previously, Hayut had even denied defrauding the women in a 2022 interview with CNN, calling himself a 'single guy who wanted to meet some girls on Tinder'.