Tinder Is Adding A New Safety Feature To Allow People To Check Date's Criminal History
Tinder is set to feature a new criminal background safety check after Simon Leviev (The Tinder Swindler) was accused of conning the app of $430,000 (£326,385)
Following the release of the Netflix documentary, Tinder's parent company Match Group claims the feature would surface arrests and convictions for certain violent crimes.
"This is the first that's been done in this industry," Tracey Breeden, head of safety and social advocacy at Match Group, told the Wall Street Journal.
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"Nobody wants to step into a space that's complex, that's difficult. Safety's hard," she added. "And we have to be a part of the conversation. We have to help find a solution."
According to WSJ, Garbo Technology Corp., a non-profit background check organisation, will be working with Match Group.
They say arrests and convictions for financial crimes more than seven years old would be excluded from Tinder results. Homicides or robberies committed more than 14 years ago, as well as arrests and convictions for marijuana possession, vandalism and loitering laws will also be excluded.
The company has come under some criticism recently after the Netflix doc that follows conman Simon Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut.
The film showcases the story of women who were conned by the pretend playboy.
He spent years travelling around the world on the run from the authorities and was wanted for a series of crimes, including forgery and theft.
The conman spent two years in a Finnish prison for defrauding several women, and after his 2017 release he went back to Israel, then fled the country for Europe before he could be arrested, which is where he met The Tinder Swindler's Cecilie Fjellhoy.
Hayut was eventually caught for using a fake passport in Greece in 2019.
He was extradited to Israel and sentenced to 15 months in prison for theft, fraud, and forgery of documents – all charges from 2011, unrelated to the accusations made against him in the Netflix documentary.
He was then released after five months on good behaviour. However, the twice-convicted fraudster denies any wrongdoing.
"They weren't conned and they weren't threatened," Hayut told Inside Edition last month.
"No, I am not, and I never presented myself the son of a billionaire diamond mogul."
Topics: Tinder, The Tinder Swindler
Anish Vij