Beware The Tinder Swindler: How not

to fall for an Internet love scam

Simon Leviev was savvy and intelligent, but so were his victims. Love scams
happen in Singapore too – here’s what you can do to protect your heart and
money.

We’ve all heard this before: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” But is it that
simple? Netflix’s latest documentary hit, The Tinder Swindler, proves love scams are
a breed apart from the rest.

For one, the victims of notorious conman Simon Leviev were intelligent, independent
and tech-savvy women, whose instinct nudged them to Google him when they first
met him on dating app Tinder and of course, “stalk” his Instagram account.

Then, he wooed them with not only “sweet nothings” over text and video message,
but whirlwind overseas trips around Europe, obscenely expensive dinners and parties
at bottle service nightclubs. The “evidence” they needed to believe that they were in a
relationship with – and could soon be married to – an heir to a diamond empire, was
all there.

So when he said his business enemies were monitoring his transactions and
threatening his life, and needed large amounts of money quickly, they bought it.

LOVE SCAMS IN SINGAPORE

The Tinder Swindler was set in Europe, but romance scams such as these happen
across the world.

In Singapore, local authorities said the situation continues to worsen, with Internet
love scams rising from 345 cases between January and June 2020 to 568 during the
same period in 2021.

The amount victims were cheated out of in love scams during this period also
doubled to a whopping S$25.1 million, with S$3 million being the largest sum
cheated in a single case.

Most of the scams that occur in Singapore aren’t as elaborate as Simon Leviev, but
they’re just as convincing.