The central subject of Netflix‘s new documentary The Tinder Swindler has deleted his Instagram page following his own reaction to the film.
The popular doc, which was released last week on the streaming platform, follows the story of a group of women who were conned out of millions of dollars by a user on a dating app to fund his lifestyle.
Shimon Hayut was estimated to have stolen $10million (£7.4million) from a number of victims, going under the alias of Simon Leviev and gaining trust under the premise of expensive dates.
He recently posted a message on his Instagram account, before deleting it, writing: “Thank you for all your support.
“I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself. Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”
Hayut was previously jailed in Israel over travelling with a fake passport, though was released five months into a 15-month sentence on good behaviour.
Victims Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman and Pernilla Sjoholm have since set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to repay their debts after being conned.
“You’re probably here because you’ve heard about our story, and we appreciate you taking the time to search and find this page,” they wrote.
“The past few days have been a whirlwind, and we three (Ayleen, Pernilla and Cecilie) have been completely shocked and floored by the flood of compassion and support from everyone. The sheer love is more than we ever expected, and we appreciate you all so much.”
They added: “We don’t want more people getting defrauded. We realise there are a thousand other worthy causes to donate to, and remain forever grateful if you choose to donate to this one. All we want are our lives back.”
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