Ty Watches “The Tinder Swindler”

Recently I finished the Netflix documentary "The Tinder Swindler".

I have been in a doc mood lately, and this one spoke to me when I was searching the other day. I have been married for almost 13 years, and been with my wife for 15 years, so online dating has never been a thing for me. I never used it. I did have an eHarmony account at one point, but then I met my wife, and deleted it very soon after because I knew I was going to marry her. I was lucky enough to meet her in real life when a friend set us up. And for that, I am forever grateful. It is so much better that way, in my opinion. I know plenty of people who have met and married someone through the internet. But for me, it is way easier, and way better, to meet in person. The online dating life seems very hard and very easy to scam someone. That is what "The Tinder Swindler" is all about.

The movie focuses on three ladies that were scammed by the same man. But it is not like "Catfish" or movies and shows like that. This was a real person who found a way to scam these very real women. When the movie opens we meet a young lady from Sweden. She is very adept at using Tinder. She breaks it all down. She is very smart and very beautiful. She mentions that she "swiped right" on this gentleman named Simon, and soon after a relationship started. He took her on private planes. They went on exotic vacations. They ate all the best food. They exchanged very expensive gifts. It was all a fairytale, until one day, when he simply seemed to vanish. No contact, nothing. Just gone. He would return, but only to ask for money. We then meet another woman, also from Sweden, and she seems like she knows what she is doing on Tinder. Again, just like the first lady, knows how to game the system to get a guy she likes. She too, eventually, matches with the same guy, Simon. And while it is not a romantic type relationship, she seems to like him very much as a friend. She likes to hang out with him and go clubbing and go to parties. Nothing romantic happens, but they do make a deep, friendly connection. But then, just like the first lady, Simon falls off. And, just like the first lady again, Simon comes back online and asks for money. These ladies give him the money because they have made these connections, but it all seems rather fishy. It is all very weird. Through some deep digging, and after talking to journalists in Sweden, the ladies come to realize that Simon has been scamming them, and many, many other women, for many years. He uses their credit cards to buy all the things he wants. He uses the money they have given him to fly out other women and buy them whatever they want. It turns out he is a very prolific con artist. At this point we meet yet another woman who claims to be Simon's girlfriend. She says they have been together for 15 months. She found out, only after the investigative journalists released a tell all story, that Simon was galavanting with these other women during their "relationship". She is rightfully furious. She decides she is going to swindle him. She pretends to still be in love with him, to tell him what he wants to hear. But, instead of giving him money, she makes mention that she could sell his designer clothing to help him pay for his lavish lifestyle. He agrees, and she starts to sell. But she never tells him that she is making any money. Anytime he asks, she says she hasn't sold anything. It gets so bad that Simon claims to be homeless. All the while, this lady has made over 10,000 dollars selling his clothing. I loved it. She was beating this jerk at his own game.

Eventually Simon gets caught and arrested by Interpol. All three of the women featured feel like they have finally caught him. That Simon is going to pay for what he has done. His picture and story was everywhere. He did get sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud. I was stoked. So were the ladies in the movie. It felt like a good punishment for what he had done. I assumed the movie was going to end right there. It needed a happy ending after all the wild shit I had watched for 90 minutes.

But then, before the credits rolled, they updated the viewer on the situation. Simon did go to jail, but only for 5 months. He was released and let back into the world. He started an online business for a nominal fee. He had all the fancy things again. He was dating an Israeli model. They were on private jets again. He was back in designer clothes and buying and doing whatever he wanted. He was even back on Tinder. As for the women featured in the movie, they were doing better, but still had pretty big debts they were paying off. The three women look to have become friends, and they have been back on Tinder as well. But I was kind of frustrated when I saw Simon doing all his nonsense again. He clearly hadn't learned his lesson, and the police let him go after serving only a third of his sentence. And when the people making the movie tried to contact him, he sent a very threatening message to them. He is still an asshole. He is still selfish. He is still doing what he wants when he wants to whomever will bite on his scam. He learned nothing and was going about his everyday life like he didn't perform multiple criminal acts. It goes to show that some scum can get away with what they want with minimal consequence. It is a frustrating world that we live in. It makes me sick that people can scam other people, and because they just happen to be rich, they can get away with it.

I do recommend this movie because it is fascinating, but know going into it that you will be angry at the end. Or, at least you should be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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