Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Happy Singles Awareness Day. Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1758090693522cropped-kelly-sikkema-E8H76nY1v6Q-unsplash.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Happy Singles Awareness Day. Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash</span></span></span></div><p>STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Two victims of Israeli fraudster Simon Leviev, made famous by the Netflix show &quot;The Tinder Swindler&quot;, on Tuesday told AFP that they were glad to learn of his arrest in Georgia.</p><p>Leviev, 34, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, rose to notoriety after investigative reports and media coverage exposed a pattern of romance fraud and financial crimes.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/03/10/22/tinder-lets-users-run-background-checks">Tinder lets users run background checks before dates</a></div><p>He was arrested at Batumi airport &quot;at Interpol&#x27;s request&quot;, Georgian officials said Monday.</p><p>&quot;I celebrated a bit yesterday. I&#x27;m allowed to feel happy because this guy destroyed my life,&quot; Pernilla Sjoholm told AFP in an interview in Stockholm.</p><p>&quot;I was shocked because it&#x27;s been such a long time,&quot; Norwegian Cecilie Fjellhoy, another one of Leviev&#x27;s victims, told AFP in London, adding it was like a &quot;little celebration&quot;.</p><p>Between 2017 and 2019, Leviev allegedly used the dating app Tinder to pose as a wealthy heir and trick women into advancing him large sums of money, which he never repaid.</p><p>His scheme became one of the most notorious examples of &quot;catfishing&quot; -- creating a false online persona to lure victims into emotional and financial entanglements.</p><p>Fjellhoy said that she was &quot;super relieved&quot; that he had been arrested even though she was frustrated it had taken so long.</p><p>&quot;I get this sense of calm because I know that I am being protected. I know future victims are being protected, but as well, you&#x27;re angry on that it had to take this amount of time and the amount of victims that we know have been accumulated,&quot; she said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/12/02/21/tinder-owner-to-pay-founders-441m-to-settle-lawsuit">Tinder owner to pay founders $441 million to settle valuation lawsuit</a></div><p>Sjoholm, now 38, said she met Leviev on Tinder in March 2018.</p><p>They rapidly became friends and within a few months he was defrauding her, she said.</p><p>In total, she handed over more than 600,000 kronor ($65,000) to him, which he never paid back.</p><p>His arrest &quot;is a win,&quot; Sjoholm said. &quot;Thank you to the country that issued the international arrest warrant.&quot;</p><p>Sjoholm added that she had bounced back from the dark chapter, describing a &quot;very happy family life&quot;.</p><p>&quot;I was so devastated back in 2018, 2019. And to stand here today... and just be so happy... It&#x27;s incredible,&quot; she said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/1/22/-kapag-masyadong-perfect-paano-matukoy-kung-love-scammer-ang-kausap-1221">&#x27;Kapag masyadong perfect&#x27;: Paano matukoy kung &#x27;love scammer&#x27; ang kausap</a></div><p>She has since become involved in the fight against financial fraud and advocates for better regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in deepfakes.</p><p>&quot;We need to see (fraud) as more than just a money loss. We need to see it as the emotional abuse that these victims live through,&quot; she said, calling for better protection of victims.</p><p>Sjoholm said she is ready to testify against Leviev in the event of a trial and has filed police complaints against him in Sweden and the Netherlands.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I_0zjq78Lio?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Two victims of Israeli fraudster Simon Leviev, made famous by the Netflix show "The Tinder Swindler", on Tuesday told AFP that they were glad to learn of his arrest in Georgia.</p>

Two victims of Israeli fraudster Simon Leviev, made famous by the Netflix show "The Tinder Swindler", on Tuesday told AFP that they were glad to learn of his arrest in Georgia.

'Tinder Swindler' victims 'celebrate' his arrest

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'Tinder Swindler' victims 'celebrate' his arrest

Agence France-Presse

Published September 17, 2025 02:33 PM PHT

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Tinder Swindler

Stockholm

Sweden

Simon Leviev

catfishing

dating app

Shimon Yehuda Hayut

Israeli

Netflix

Agence France-Presse

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