The Tinder Swindler - Netflix

[pandora206]

If anyone needs another reason to avoid online dating, this takes it to another level! It's hard to believe this guy got away with it for so long.

Although of course the first girl also committed fraud by giving her bank/credit card company a false wage slip stating she was employed by the diamond company and earning a vast salary in order to borrow yet more money.

I don’t like the victim blaming comments coming here. Women are “conned” by men like this every day. You only have to see the posts by women with cocklodgers in their lives here on MN to see this isn’t a gold digger thing. It’s that some women are vulnerable.

@fishoutofwine

I don’t like the victim blaming comments coming here. Women are “conned” by men like this every day. You only have to see the posts by women with cocklodgers in their lives here on MN to see this isn’t a gold digger thing. It’s that some women are vulnerable.

I think it's possible to feel sorry for someone but also to believe that one of the reasons it happened was because they were easily impressed by money and "glamour".

I found it hard to emphasize with these woman and I'm big on caring. They tried to play him a much as he played them.

@IcedPurple while I agree - I don’t see this as that different to women who are impressed with love bombing. Or think that a man is wonderful because “he’s really protective of me”.

The youngest one was so blatantly a bit naive. Many are in their twenties (and beyond to be fair).

[quote fishoutofwine]@IcedPurple while I agree - I don’t see this as that different to women who are impressed with love bombing. Or think that a man is wonderful because “he’s really protective of me”.

The youngest one was so blatantly a bit naive. Many are in their twenties (and beyond to be fair).[/quote]
They were all grown women, seemingly intelligent and street wise.

They allowed themselves to be taken in because they wanted it all to be true. Would they have flown off with a man they barely knew if he was a bus driver, let alone 'lend' him hundreds of thousands?

Obviously not excusing what happened to them at all, but I do think their greed played a part in it.

These are tech savvy women who have grown up with social media and scams.

I can understand the initial attraction, being flattered by roses and fine dining, private jets and international wealth. But alarm bells should have been ringing the first time he asked for money. There are stories like this all over the news on a regular basis and have been for at least the past 20 years.

I don't know a single person who doesn't google acquaintances, boyfriends, local celebs - everyone these days. I do have some sympathy for their predicament but they have to accept some of the responsibility.

It's still not as gonsmackingly scary as The PuppetMaster though.

@nokidshere

These are tech savvy women who have grown up with social media and scams.

I can understand the initial attraction, being flattered by roses and fine dining, private jets and international wealth. But alarm bells should have been ringing the first time he asked for money. There are stories like this all over the news on a regular basis and have been for at least the past 20 years.

I don't know a single person who doesn't google acquaintances, boyfriends, local celebs - everyone these days. I do have some sympathy for their predicament but they have to accept some of the responsibility.

It's still not as gonsmackingly scary as The PuppetMaster though.

Agree - it's like a modern-day equivalent of a story I would have read in my Mum's Take A Break mag in the 90s. Plus I do think the women must have had pretty shady morals to be going after a man for his money in the first place. The Norwegian woman tried to garner sympathy by saying she's always believed in love at first sight, loves Beauty and the Beast and believes in these romantic notions etc. but I think she said these things to just not come across as grabby. She came across as totally vain to me.

For those saying that only women get treated this way, I disagree.

There are tons of stories of men being conned out of their life's saving by 'matrimonial agencies' in countries like Ukraine, paying thousands to fly out to Kiev in the expectation of meeting a pretty young woman desperate to marry a 50 year old electrician. In reality, they get to talk through an interpreter to a woman who is probably married with children, and is getting paid to 'entertain' these losers for a few hours.

Very few people feel sorry for these blokes. And while I know the situations aren't exactly the same, what they have in common is that greed, whether for a pretty young wife or a 'billionaire' boyfriend, is the motivating factor. That, and being delusional.

I know I wouldn't care about Peter getting a lump on his head.

I do have some sympathy for their predicament but they have to accept some of the responsibility

Yes there are responsibility issues.

@mscynical

Although of course the first girl also committed fraud by giving her bank/credit card company a false wage slip stating she was employed by the diamond company and earning a vast salary in order to borrow yet more money.

I was completely amazed that they accepted that as evidence. Anyone could produce that.

I don't know a single person who doesn't google acquaintances, boyfriends, local celebs - everyone these days. I do have some sympathy for their predicament but they have to accept some of the responsibility.

But they did google him and it seemed to confirm what he was telling them.

@Ghastlyghoul

The other thing I can’t get my head round was how Simon shortly after meeting these women would be whatsapping google map details and expecting them to drop every and go meet him wherever - might be nearby or it might be in another country. Why didn’t they get pissed off with this sort of demand. A lot of his messages read or sound like orders - come here, get this, do that etc. Awful.

Yes, I couldn't believe it when he said to one of the women come to see me in another country to get my watch. If his watch was valuable why wouldn't he take it to a pawnbroker and send her the money? I couldn't believe the way they were running around doing exactly what he told them. Didn't they have jobs to go to?

I think Cecile's problem is that she was so desperate to find love that she was almost blinded to the normal signals anyone else would observe that he was a con artist. His voice messages to that Dutch women selling all of his designer gear made me PMSL though .

I know a friend who lent a friend they knew well £7k but thankfully didn't go further when they were asked to bankroll uni fees! My friend got her money back though but it was similiar crap like luring her in, building up a story of he rbeijg important to him, didnt ask for money straight away.

It does happen and my friend was just ina vulnerable place at the time having gone through some horrific bullying at work so I get why she 'fell' for his lies. Lucky she got all her money back.

I think its important we teach our children to never ever lend money you cant afford regardless of who they are. Fine help a friend but stick to limit like £50 where if you don't get it back you won't care.

Scammers are getting incredibly sophisticated now a days. We can all say we would never fall for it, I couldn't imagine my friend either but all it takes is a weak moment in your life where your going through something and it can happen.

I cannot imagine how the first girl has come to terms with having to pay back the level of debt she has got into. Scary.

Look the guy is completely in the wrong. But people like him can only operate and succeed in this way because there's a type of person that is greed and aspirational. Would you HONESTLY get on an all expenses plane trip with a complete strange to God knows where without reservation? The minute she did that , he knew he had a another one.

People being sold a dream that doesn't exist....

Just watched this. I was 😱 that the first woman (Cecile?) got on a plane with him after a one hour coffee date. WFT was she thinking??

TBH if I was her I would have ended the “relationship” when he mentioned the massive security issues - being tracked by his credit card transactions (supposedly) and beaten up. Would you really want to be with a man who is constantly on the run regardless of how much money he had?

As a PP said if his credit cards were a problem, why wouldn’t he have asked his billionaire dad to help him?

So many obvious massive red flags that it was a whole load of bullshit.

Fascinating programme! It's hard to feel sorry for such naivete though. I was gobsmacked at the first woman just getting on his private jet after one date - I've obviously watched too many trafficking movies but I'd have steered well clear. I do agree with pp that these women were looking for more than your average guy, no matter how they tried to dress it up.

The Swedish woman who was just a friend (and claimed to only be 31 - 31 my arse!!) Does anyone else think she was actually having a cosy threesome with him and his girlfriend on that summer trip, or is that just me? I just find it a bit strange you'd be travelling round with some guy you hardly know and another woman. Or maybe she just couldn't resist all that glamour and excitement.

And kudos to the woman who sold his clothes!

@Inkanta

I know I wouldn't care about Peter getting a lump on his head.

Same! I would have been like .......... 🤷 ok, poor Peter.

I missed the bit where the friend said she was only 31! When did she say that?

I assumed that that was a while ago. Like she was 31 when it happened.

Yeah but it was all fairly recent. And she was defo in her 40s.

Yeh, a good looking woman but in her forties.