Tinder Swindler's Simon Leviev invites people to attend birthday party in BGC via Cameo
The infamous "Tinder Swindler" Shimon Hayut a.k.a. Simon Leviev has invited people to attend a birthday party in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
In a video spotted by Esquire Magazine on April 3, Hayut asked the friends of lifestyle blogger and Benchmark Group Holdings CEO Cecile Zamora to come to her birthday party.
“I want to invite you all on April 27, at 8:00 pm...in BGC at Cecile's birthday,” Hayut is quoted as saying in the video. “She will be DJ-ing along with Mang Melvin, Kix Suarez, Gerard Hansen, and Eric Ong."
"Save the date, it's gonna be amazing. And I'm gonna be there," the 31-year-old Israeli national added.
Zamora, however, set the record straight: The "Tinder Swindler" isn't part of her birthday celebration.
Hayut sent the video to Zamora after she availed herself of Cameo's celebrity greeting service on April 2.
"I don’t even know why he said that," Zamora told PhilSTAR L!fe in a phone interview. "It’s not true," adding that she told him to clarify in the video that he won't be attending her party.
Zamora said she chose Hayut's services because there are limited options on Cameo, and it just so happens that he's been viral recently.
"I think Simon is (also) hilarious," she added.
Hayut joined Cameo, an app where users can pay personalities a fee for customized shout-out videos, in February. According to a report from TMZ, he made $30,000 (over P1.5 million) during his first three days on the platform.
To date, he has over 1,000 followers on the platform, with over 130 users giving him five-star reviews. Hayut's Cameo profile stated that he's charging at least P5,000 for personal videos and P51,000 for business purposes.
Zamora, however, bared that she paid him P8,000 for the personalized video shout-out.
"Actually, when I first checked his Cameo, it was P12,000," she said. "Tapos bumaba iyong rate, naging P7,678... plus a fee, so naging P8,000."
When asked what would be her reaction if Hayut actually comes and gatecrashes her party, she said: "Ay, hindi iyon dadating, ano. I’m not his crowd because I’m not a socialite."
Hayut is the subject of the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, which tells the story of a notorious conman who allegedly used the dating app to live a life of luxury while defrauding women across Europe.
According to his victims, he pretended to be the son of Russian-Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Leviev. The real Leviev family, meanwhile, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against him for false representation.
Shortly after the documentary's premiere, Tinder said it has already permanently banned Hayut and his known aliases from its platform "as soon as the story of his actions became public in 2019."
Hayut has been arrested multiple times for fraud, theft, and forgery. His latest conviction was in 2019 in Greece for forging a passport, but was released five months later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite his criminal record and notorious background, he was able to sign a deal with a talent management agency based in Los Angeles, California.