How I Actually Found That Tinder Swindler Guy’s Real Instagram After Binging The Netflix Show
So, I finally watched that Netflix documentary about the Tinder Swindler, right? The whole story is wild, seriously. And right after finishing it, this thought just hit me: everyone online calls him Simon Leviev, but Netflix says that’s fake. So… who is he really? And where is he now? His real Instagram must be floating around somewhere, probably hiding under some alias.
My first move was pretty obvious: I grabbed my phone and went straight into the Instagram app. Typed in “Simon Leviev” in the search bar. Boom, a whole bunch of accounts pop up. Some are fan pages, some are meme accounts making fun of him, even a few that seem like they might be trying to be him. But none of them screamed “this is the real guy Netflix exposed.” Most looked either abandoned or like obvious fakes.
Okay, scratch that. Time to think differently. I remembered Netflix mentioned his real name is Shimon Hayut. Pulled out my laptop this time for a bigger screen. Headed back to Instagram on the web. Searched “Shimon Hayut“. This was a bust. Seriously, barely anything useful came up. Maybe one or two accounts mentioning the name, but clearly not his personal profile.
Felt stuck for a minute. Then I had another idea. Maybe he’s using a different alias now? Where to even start? I decided to look backwards. I remembered the documentary showed a ton of his Instagram posts boasting about that ridiculous lifestyle – private jets, luxury cars, fancy dinners. So, I went back to the Netflix show itself and started pausing on any Instagram screenshots they showed. Paid super close attention to the details in those posts.
I was looking for anything unique: specific locations tagged in old posts (that weren’t just generic city tags), maybe the handle of a friend or associate commenting or tagged that looked real, any distinct jewellery he always wore, maybe the interior of a hotel or jet that could be identified. It was tedious, scanning through his fake life frame by frame.
Then I noticed something specific in a screenshot of one of his jet photos. The background, the seat configuration… looked familiar. Did a separate quick Google search on luxury private jet interiors based on that image snippet. Found a charter company name that seemed like a match. Used that company name alongside things like “model private jet” and “Israeli” as search terms within Instagram.
Scrolled through tons of posts, mostly from actual wealthy people or travel pages. But then one account caught my eye. The guy in the photos… that jawline, that smirk – it was undeniably him, even though he looked a bit different, maybe a bit heavier. The profile name was nothing like Simon Leviev or Shimon Hayut. It was something completely random, just initials and numbers, like “travel_adventurer_xx”. No obvious link at all.
How to confirm? Looked at his bio. Super vague. Scrolled through his feed. Again, filled with luxury travel shots, fancy cars, parties, models – the exact same playbook he used before! But no mention of diamonds or investing like he did with his victims. This felt different from the obvious fakes.
The real clincher came from his tagged photos and who was interacting. He hadn’t been tagged in that many places, but the few times he was, the people tagging him were tagged in other posts by known models or minor celebrities whose profiles seemed legitimate. Also, a couple of very recent comments on his posts from accounts using Hebrew names, dropping comments about places in Israel or wishing him well in Hebrew. That felt too specific and organic for a fake account trying to impersonate him to bother with.
Finally, checked his followers. Not a huge number, but sprinkled among the obvious spam bots were a few accounts that looked like real people based in Europe and Israel, a couple even with verification ticks. Nobody famous, but real profiles following a seemingly random account? Weird, unless they knew him personally. It just added up. The visuals matched the Netflix clips perfectly, the content was the same fantasy life spin, the minimal tagging and interactions felt plausible for someone lying low.
Finding it felt like solving a puzzle for real. It took pausing Netflix shots, searching weirdly specific keywords, recognizing his smirk and patterns, and seeing those little real-world breadcrumbs in the interactions. Seems like even with a fake name plastered everywhere, some people just can’t help but keep flashing the cash online. Honestly, wild how he’s still at it.
