A "Tinder scammer" who defrauded women of $10 million was arrested in Georgia (4 photos)
A documentary was even made about Simon Leviev, detailing his scams with women. He masterfully conned women out of incredible sums of money, yet he doesn't consider himself a fraud. 
Simon Leviev, known as the "Tinder Scammer," was detained at Batumi Airport in Georgia, Rustavi 2 reports, citing the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was wanted internationally by Interpol and became the subject of a Netflix documentary of the same name, which told the stories of women who fell victim to his fraudulent schemes. 
Levaev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut, posed as the son of Israeli billionaire and diamond magnate Lev Leviev and began affairs through the dating app Tinder. He first showered his victims with expensive gifts and flew them in a business jet, then extorted large sums from the women—it is estimated that he stole more than ten million dollars. 
The unfortunate ladies, besotted with passion, sincerely believed they were communicating with a billionaire who, by the will of fate, had found himself in a difficult situation. They took out multimillion-dollar loans and went into debt, just to help their beloved. 
In 2015, Leviev was sentenced to three years in prison in Finland, and in 2019 to 15 months in Israel, where he was released early amid the pandemic. He was also wanted by authorities in Norway, Sweden, and the UK.
Among the lawsuits filed against Leviev was a lawsuit from the real Leviev family for damage to his reputation (March 2024), according to The Jerusalem Post. The cunning Israeli forced the diamond billionaire's real heirs to defend their supposedly fraudulent relative.
The reason for his arrest in Georgia has not yet been announced; Leviev's lawyers claim he was freely traveling the world until the very last moment. The conman himself denies fraud:
"If I were a fraudster, why would I be on Netflix? I mean, they should have arrested me while I was still filming. It's time for women to start telling the truth. If you can't give them peace, they want to turn yours into hell," he fumes.
