Of laws and scams
When the women are hooked, he would conjure a scenario where due to a security threat
Published in Daily Tribune on February 24, 2022
by: Vanessa Arrha A De Leon
As the human mind and technology have evolved and expanded, it is the unfortunate byproduct that the ingenuity of scammers who have devised and created elaborate ruses to defraud people out of their money have also evolved and expanded.
Scamwatch.com, a website ran by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), was formed for the purpose of helping consumers and small businesses recognize, avoid and report scams. In its website, it identified the different types of scams which ranges from Covid-19 scams to the more basic: attempts to gain personal information, buying and selling, investments, jobs and employment, etc.
One of the more interesting scams the website identified are dating and romance scams, an issue that has become even more relevant with the proliferation of documentaries and media involving this topic.
For some who have not watched it, one of Netflix’s new documentaries, “The Tinder Swindler”, is both an interesting and enlightening watch, as a firsthand look on the basic principles of scams.
It tells the story of three women who, among many others, were the victims of an Israeli man named Shimon Hayut or as he introduced himself to these women, Simon Leviev. Hayut is a conman whose modus operandi revolves around wooing women through online dating apps by making them believe that he is a billionaire’s son working in the apparently dangerous diamond business, with the ultimate objective of gaining their hearts and trust to con them out of thousands of dollars, burying them in debt, which up to now they are still paying.
To make the pretense believable, Hayut employed several tactics: He changed his name to Leviev (after the Leviev family of oligarchs who are actually involved in the diamond business), had people around him who acted as either his bodyguard, business partner, or family member, and without a second thought, spent money in front of these women, on expensive and luxury food, clothing, accommodations, travel, cars, and other luxuries that it was hard to believe that he did not have the money he claimed he had.
Later on, when the women are hooked, he would conjure a scenario where due to a security threat, he would need to borrow money from them which he would promise to pay back. With all of this being a scam, however, he would of course not deliver on his promise.
As the documentary proceeded, it would be revealed that the money obtained from one girl will be used to seduce another, while the “girlfriend-investor” who lent the money would be waiting and wondering when the money she lent would be paid back by Hayut.
In one moment of analysis, one of the journalists who helped these women victims, explained that what Hayut was doing was basically a Ponzi scheme, using funds from “previous girlfriends” to lure other women — “new investors” into the ruse.
Under our laws, scams such as those perpetrated by Hayut could only be addressed by filing a case in court for estafa. Usually the filing of such criminal case would be necessary, as in the author’s experience, scammers would be, when first confronted with their ruse, insistent that they have not done anything wrong because the money was given willingly pursuant to a legitimate purpose or business venture and that if the money could not be returned, it was because of business reversals.
However, filing a case to recover money lost through these scams entails significant expense. The acceptance fee alone of a private lawyer who would prepare the complaint and study the evidence to be submitted to the prosecutor’s office would usually be equal to or higher than the amount lost. Further, despite the filing of a case, there is no promise that the whole amount could be recovered.
In view of this reality, prudence should guide every decision to invest whether in money or emotions.
