‘The Tinder Swindler’ review: Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary is a lesson in vulnerability

A cinematic look into the disturbing tale of a relentless conman turns its focus to the heavy price that come with the smaller scams

“This is an emotional con,” is how Natalie Remøe Hansen —a journalist whose piece in the Norwegian newspaper VG inspired the documentary — describes the case of Simon Leviev, or as Netflix’s latest documentary calls him, “The Tinder Swindler.”

Posing as the son of an Israeli diamond magnate, Leviev uses the dating app Tinder to first emotionally lure women into his life as the troubled “prince of diamonds”. He then makes them financially rescue him from his mortal enemies, sinking his teeth deeper into the woman’s personal funds with each new “threat” to his life.

There is of course no threat, because there is no Simon Leviev. The false heir uses the money he borrowed from one woman to sponsor his luxurious lifestyle, and flaunts the same in front of his next potential victim, spinning a yarn of deceit across multiple cities in Europe.