Imagine a scenario like this:
An ordinary girl is at home brushing social media, a perfect rich handsome makes her eyes light up,
And he happened to be interested in her.
On the first date, he took her on his private jet.
Enjoy a great meal and wine together and embark on a luxurious journey through Europe...
Destined for Prince Charming?
It's possible.
But the probability is —)
Tinder Scam King
Cecily, who lives in London, is a girl full of longing for love.
The first impression of love comes from the Disney animation Beauty and the Beast.
She would memorize all the lines in the film and sing all the interludes.
She longs to meet the prince like the heroine Belle;
Or the prince in distress is not bad, the two can save each other, and then enter a completely different life together.
Such a romantic idea may be a little unrealistic, but in the depths of her heart, she always has a little expectation.
In the age of social media, rather than hoping to meet the "true destiny" in a bookstore or café,
Using dating software to take the initiative is obviously much more pragmatic.
Cecily, who is a Tinder master.
Through Tinder's search for a boyfriend, she does not shy away from her preference for rich and handsome.
And quoted a famous quote from Marilyn Monroe in the movie "Gentlemen Love Beauty":
"Rich men are like pretty girls, you may not marry a girl just because she's pretty, but that always helps." 」
Kung Fu paid off, and a man named Simon Leviv caught her attention—
Handsome and stylishly dressed.
The homepage has an Ins link, and there are many fans,
All kinds of business meetings, parties, beach photos, each one liked thousands.
The screen slides right and the pairing is successful.
Soon, a message came from the other party: "I am leaving London tomorrow, do I want to meet?" ”
"It's cool to meet someone like that," Cecilia agreed.
The date takes place in the high-end hotel café where the man lives.
Cecily arrived early, and she felt at odds with everything here.
Awkwardly sat in the hall, waiting for the date to appear.
The elevator door opened, and Simon came out—
Suits and leather shoes, full of charm, exactly the same as in the photos.
In this era of rampant deception, this alone is enough to make people heartwarming.
During the chat, Simon told Cecily that she was the CEO of LDO Diamonds of the Leviv Group.
His father was the Diamond King, which means he was the Diamond Prince.
The conversation became more and more private,
He talked about his divorce,
Has a daughter, and her mother lives in London,
Because of his work, he rarely stays in the same place for a long time and so on.
At the end of the hour-long coffee party, Cecilia was satisfied.
Before leaving, Simon tells Cecily that he and his team are going to Bulgaria on business and ask her if she wants to take his private jet with her.
It was something Cecil had never done before, and she immediately agreed.
Simon's driver drove her home in a Rolls-Royce,
She quickly packed her bags and grabbed her passport, looking forward to an exciting, luxurious, romantic adventure like in the movie "Yellow Fragrant Car".
In the chat group, the good sisters alarm bells and remind Cecily: "Beware of being kidnapped."
At this time, she has fully invested in a new relationship, telling herself only four words: live in the moment.
At the airport, the whole team was waiting for them.
Bodyguards escorted them on the plane, and Simon's ex-wife accompanied them with their daughter.
Dating with an ex? Maybe this is the world of the rich.
The ex-wife also told her that Simon was a wonderful father and cared deeply for them even though they weren't together.
This made Cecily doubly fond of him.
After checking in at the hotel, the two entered the elevator together, and the moment the door closed, Simon gently wrapped his arms around Cecily's waist and looked at her tenderly.
Then he pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss. Cecily immediately ran into the fawn.
The documentary is interspersed with pictures of princess movies from time to time in the narrative, which is used to show the sweetness and dreaminess of the early days of this "love".
On the bed, Cecilia caressed Simon, and she felt the slated scars on his back.
She wondered what it was.
Simon recounts that he was betrayed in a deal because he was Jewish and he was brutally imprisoned...
This bright-looking, wind-calling man is curled up on the bed at this moment, opening up to himself and showing vulnerability.
"You would want to save someone like that, especially if he has so much responsibility on his shoulders."
That night, Simon got a lot of calls,
Citing his busy business, he left Cecily alone to return to London.
That's it? She was still unsatisfied.
In addition to the thoughts of Simon, there is also the confirmation of his own charm -
Why did the Diamond Prince, who has no one in the world, choose himself?
"How special am I? But he's gone, and you'll never know. ”
So she tentatively texted the other person:
"I hope you miss me a little bit."
And then stare at the screen —
The other side is online.
Typing.
"I'm already thinking about you."
As we tell the camera about this memory, we can still see the traces of the joy on Cecily's face.
Since then, the two will send each other good morning and good night text messages and Facebook calls every day;
Simon would mark Cecilia where he was going;
Would suddenly ask "where is your address" and then mail her a large bouquet of roses.
Due to the nature of his work, Simon flies all over Europe every day, and it is not easy to meet him.
But it's such a busy man,
Just because Cecily said "I want to see you", she took a private plane and arrived at her side at three o'clock in the morning...
Isn't this exactly the romantic love she grew up expecting?
Thus, Cecily fell completely,
The two also began formal exchanges.
Simon's family, the Leviv family,
Ranked 782nd in the world's richest people, it has assets of $1.6 billion and owns drilling mines in Africa.
In the public perception, most of these families involve some gray areas.
After all, high returns and high risks often stand side by side.
Soon, the risk came —
Simon tells Cecily that he is in the big business of up to seventy million dollars.
But diamonds are a dangerous business,
In the process, his safety was threatened, surrounded by bodyguards.
The threat is getting worse and worse, some people send him bullets, or send wreaths, and even someone breaks into his apartment...
He often needs to take shelter.
But these dangers did not affect the progress of the two people's relationship.
A "Move in with me" made Cecilia start to envision living with Simon.
However, in the early hours of the day after she booked a $15,000-a-month apartment,
A text message that breaks the beautiful fantasy of cohabitation -
Simon's personal bodyguard, Peter, was injured.
Simon sends a small video: In the ambulance, Peter's head is broken and bleeding, and the doctor is cleaning his wounds.
"They're chasing me, thanks to Peter, or I'd be dead."
"We're taken care of, go to bed."
Simon hung up the phone, but Cecily couldn't sleep worriedly.
The next day, Simon sent a voice asking Cecilia for a favor.
Because of the current situation, he can no longer use his credit card for safety reasons, otherwise his enemies will track his location according to his swipe records.
To sum up, he needs to temporarily use her credit card for two weeks...
The story is here, and it is a script that we are familiar with.
But in Cecilia's own script, the moment when she saved the prince finally arrived.
So she decided to lend out her credit card.
Soon, the card was swiped.
Simon claims to send money directly to the bank, and he posts a screenshot of the remittance, proving that the money is already on the way.
Meanwhile, Cecilia was asked to take twenty-five thousand dollars in cash to Amsterdam to find him.
Why do I need cash?
The explanation he gave was: no traceability.
How to get so much cash quickly?
loan.
In a short period of time, Cecily's credit card was constantly being swiped.
She also began to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall and kept taking out loans everywhere.
"Baby, when are you going to get it done", "The card can't be used again", "Quick! ”
Simon's urging messages bombarded Cecilia one after another, leaving her no time to think.
Every minute, there are new requests.
In order to increase the credit limit, Simon even falsely hired Cecily, forging a salary certificate of $94,000 a month and sending it to the bank.
Until the end, the accumulated nine banks had become Cecilia's creditors.
She began to panic, Simon's remittance has not arrived, the phone is stuffed with dunning letters from major banks,
She needs money.
She carefully asked Simon as if she had done something wrong, but the other party seemed to have changed his face, completely devoid of the warmth and gentleness of the past.
He gave her a check, cold.
She returned to London to exchange cheques, only to be told "no exchange".
Only then did Cecily realize that something was wrong.
She contacted her credit card company and pulled out a picture of Simon, and the staff looked at each other:
"It's the guy."
……
At this moment, in the nightclub in Amsterdam, Simon is squandering the cash obtained from Cecily's loan, generously paying for all the beautiful women...
Cecilia finally had to believe that she was caught in a "pig killing dish".
It turned out that as early as 2015, Simon had defrauded three Finnish women in different identities and the same routine, and was imprisoned for three years.
After he was released from prison, he repeated his old tricks, but his methods were even more clever...
His routine, apparently carefully planned—
First, post photos to create a rich and handsome image;
Then claim that he is about to leave the local area, creating a sense of urgency to meet;
On a first date, stacking romance with a lot of (someone else's) money, attracting people;
The emotional drama is done very well, coupled with the occasional departure, the victimized women are firmly hooked...
Spend a month to make each other fall in love with themselves,
After that, he pretended to be a shipwrecked prince and cheated money...
He has nothing to do with the Diamond Rich family.
The bodyguard was injured, hunted down, and self-directed...
In defiance, Cecilia decided to expose the matter to the world's largest newspaper in Norway.
Next, the reporters of the "Worldway" launched a cat-and-mouse game of investigation and tracking.
The process of investigation and tracking is a major highlight of the whole film.
Because Simon has been wandering in many countries for many years, it is difficult for the police everywhere to file a case against him.
Therefore, journalists who want to find the truth can only rely on themselves.
An action to visit the special report was a bit of a suspenseful spy war.
For example, in order to obtain Simon's location information,
Through the information provided by Cecily, the extensive swipe details on credit card statements, the reporters found a large number of tickets he had purchased, as well as the names of the ticket holders.
Among them were his bodyguards, business associates, and some of the women's names.
Among them, a woman named Penella caught the attention of reporters. The reporter contacted her through Facebook and received a response immediately.
The opportunity to see Simon's true face came - at this time, Peñella was about to take a flight to Munich to meet Simon...
Penella, also one of the victims of the scam.
Through her bill details, the reporter deduced that the victimized women were caught in an elaborate "Ponzi scheme" that defrauded tens of millions of dollars.
This kind of fraud, commonly known as the "empty glove white wolf"——
Swipe a woman's credit card to buy a ticket for a second woman;
With the second woman's money, invite the third woman to dinner.
As a result, he was able to travel everywhere, never staying in one place for too long, effectively avoiding the punishment of the law.
Credit cards are never his name, and in the face of police, he can say: "I'm just borrowing money." ”
It's almost the perfect scam.
Will he continue to let him go unpunished?
In order to get Simon caught, but also to avoid more women victimizing.
The only thing Cecilia and Penella can do is to join forces to make simon's crime known and exposed to more media.
As long as the traffic is large enough, every girl who is about to be deceived will be vigilant after hearing his name, seeing his face, or seeing his routine.
But expose the scumbag and make his crimes public,
And that means —"
As victims, their faces appear on the cover of a newspaper,
There will be large feature stories on the Internet,
Strangers would read their inner thoughts, fears, love for the fraudster, and some very intimate content, including bed photos.
But they were ready.
And in stark contrast to them is an unexpected woman —
In the photos of the three Finnish female victims, Cecilia recognized a familiar face —
It was the "ex-wife" on Simon's private jet.
After she was deceived, she once appeared in court to accuse him of throwing him into prison.
But three years later, he joined his gang to defraud the next woman...
In February 2019, The Worldway newspaper published a feature story titled "Tinder Swindler."
As soon as the report spread, as soon as the report spread, a flood of negative comments swept in.
"Stupid", "deserved", "Gold Worshipper"...
Because they are not "perfect victims", they are almost overwhelmed by negative public opinion.
Fortunately, in addition to ridicule and humiliation, there are also many kindness and responses from strangers.
After the report was issued, the newspaper company received a steady stream of phone calls from victims.
There are men and women, old and young.
Simon once pretended to be a banker, a pilot, an Israeli agent...
There are many fraudulent methods, and the amount of fraud is as high as tens of millions of dollars.
Now, just type his name into the search engine and you'll immediately learn of his bad deeds.
Cecilia and Penella's actions also saved another woman in time...
Human nature is complex,
Maybe their initial love for Simon was mixed with lust and greed,
But after suffering both emotional and financial damage, he still has the courage to stand up and do justice.
It's also valuable enough.
Those who should be blamed are, of course, fraudsters who cheat money and deceive feelings.
But also hope that more and more girls will realize that they have fantasies but do not have to be dominated by it,
Fairy tales can be created on their own.