Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - Simon Leviev, the 35-year-old Israeli businessman known as the “Tinder Swindler,” has been detained in Georgia after arriving at Batumi airport, according to Georgian and Israeli media reports.
Leviev, whose birth name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, is infamous
for allegedly defrauding women he met through the dating app Tinder by posing
as the heir to the Leviev diamond fortune. He is accused of using a lavish
lifestyle, including private jets, luxury hotels, and expensive cars, to gain
women’s trust before persuading them to lend him large sums of money, claiming
he was in danger. Victims allege he defrauded them of a total of £7.6 million.
The grounds for Leviev’s arrest in Georgia remain unclear.
His lawyer told Hebrew publication Walla: “I spoke with him this morning after
he was detained, but we don’t yet understand the reason… He has been traveling
freely around the world.” Georgian authorities have not released additional
details.
Leviev previously served time in Israel after being arrested
in Greece in 2019. He was convicted of fraud, forgery, and theft, and served
five months of a 15-month sentence before being released early due to Covid-19
restrictions.
The arrest follows an Interpol Red Notice, a global request
to detain a wanted individual. While Red Notices are circulated to law
enforcement in all 196 Interpol member countries, they do not constitute an
international arrest warrant, and each nation decides whether to act on it
under its own laws.
Leviev gained widespread notoriety after a 2022 Netflix
documentary, The Tinder Swindler, detailed his alleged scams. He has denied the
allegations, claiming his accusers are “liars” and “paid actresses,” and has
said the truth will emerge in an upcoming book and film.
The Georgian Interior Ministry confirmed that Leviev was
detained while crossing the border under the Red Notice, but it is not yet
clear which country requested his arrest or the specific charges involved.
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