Shimon Hayut, infamously known as the ‘Tinder Swindler’ for his elaborate romance fraud schemes that extorted millions from women, is now leveraging his criminal past to launch a new dating app called Safe Love, designed to prevent the very deceptions he once orchestrated. Hayut, who has faced fraud, theft, and forgery convictions in Israel and Finland, argues that his intimate knowledge of how fraudsters operate makes him uniquely qualified to build a secure online dating environment. He plans to implement rigorous identity verification, including government ID and selfie matching, with strict photo consistency checks and an SOS feature that immediately records audio/video and shares location with authorities if a user feels unsafe. Despite facing opposition from the Online Dating and Discovery Association (ODDA), which has urged app stores to ban his platform, Hayut remains confident, comparing himself to reformed con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. and asserting that his past mistakes, for which he claims to have ‘paid his debts to society,’ have equipped him with unparalleled insight into thwarting online dating fraud and ensuring user safety.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
