Is It All The Tinder Swindler’s Fault Though?

Millions of people join dating sites globally on a daily basis in pursuit of love. And although in many of these cases people join these sites with the intention of genuinely getting to know someone, it does not always happen the way they expect it to.

Tinder is one of the most popular dating sites. The concept is simple. You sign up and create a profile that shows your age and preferences. Tinder then shows you a bunch of profiles of people you might like and you swipe left for “No” and right for “Yes”.

Recently, a Documentary by Netflix called the Tinder Swindler was released on their video streaming platform. It immediately got people talking on various social media platforms. It tells the story of a man who allegedly created fake profiles on Tinder and successfully established relationships with various women.

According to the women, the swindler (Leviev) lied to them and claimed that he was the son of a wealthy tycoon. He would then take them on dates and start relationships with them before he proceeded to ask them for large sums of money.

According to these women, the swindler treated them like an actual boyfriend would. He spent hours talking to them and professed his love for them. He even took it a step further and took them on expensive dates. They were satisfied with his performance enough to willingly sent him lots of money when he requested them to.

It’s one thing to have someone lie to you with the purpose of stealing vital information like bank account numbers and pin numbers to access your money. It’s another thing when one willingly sends money themselves. These women got the “boyfriend experience” at a price. And the reason they cried foul is because they thought they would get more out of the relationships they established with the man. Yet this happens to men on a daily basis and no one makes a big deal of it.

The Tinder Swindler is a testament of how society is biased towards the female gender. On a daily basis women open social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tinder etc with the sole purpose of milking men of their money under the guise of potentially dating them.

Here in Zimbabwe it’s popular for women to lure men online and through meet ups at bars and other social places. After getting a woman’s number the men are constantly asked for favors like buying airtime, data, transport, lunch, etc. Sometimes the men go as far as buying phones, paying rent, buying clothes and giving allowances.

A woman can “date” a man for weeks knowing full well that she does not genuinely care about him or his feelings. Such a woman can then decide to cut off ties with no explanation. This happens to men all over the world but most times if a man cries foul people laugh and call it foolish that he allowed himself to invest that far. If the Tinder Swindler deserves to go to jail for his actions then many women also deserve to go to jail.

The tale is as old as time. These women spent money but not under duress. It wasn’t stolen from them either. They gave it to their “boyfriend”. Sure he had a fake name but he did everything the same way any other boyfriend would….at a price.