Former 'Tinder Swindler' launches Safe Love app to curb dating fraud

Shimon Hayut, the man behind the "Tinder Swindler" scams, announced a forthcoming dating service called Safe Love that aims to reduce deception in online matchmaking. Drawing on his own criminal history, which includes convictions in Israel and Finland and an extradition from Greece, he proposes tighter identity verification: users must submit a government ID and a selfie that must match within a 15% tolerance, and any profile picture deviating beyond that will be rejected.

The platform will also feature an SOS button that automatically records audio and video, transmits the user’s location, and alerts law enforcement if a date feels unsafe. The Online Dating and Discovery Association has written to Apple and Google, urging them to keep the app off their stores, arguing that a convicted romance fraudster should not run a trust-based service. Hayut dismisses the criticism, saying the app will be fully functional before launch and that his notoriety forces him to avoid mistakes. He also notes he now has two young children with different partners and claims he has changed since his early crimes.