Two women who were victims of Israeli fraudster Simon Leviev, made famous by the Netflix show The Tinder Swindler, said Tuesday they were relieved to learn of his arrest in Georgia.
Leviev, 34, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, rose to notoriety after media investigations exposed his pattern of romance fraud and financial crimes.
Georgian officials said he was arrested at Batumi airport on Monday at Interpol's request.
"I celebrated a bit yesterday. I'm allowed to feel happy because this guy destroyed my life," Swedish victim Pernilla Sjoholm told AFP news agency in Stockholm.
Norwegian victim Cecilie Fjellhoy said she was shocked by the arrest after such a long wait.
"It was like a little celebration," she told AFP in London, adding she felt "super relieved" even though frustrated at the time it had taken.
Between 2017 and 2019, Leviev allegedly posed as a wealthy heir on the dating app Tinder to trick women into lending him large sums of money that he never repaid.
His scheme became one of the most notorious examples of "catfishing" — creating a false online persona to lure victims into financial and emotional entanglements.
Fjellhoy said his detention brought "a sense of calm because I know that I am being protected.
I know future victims are being protected. But you're angry that it had to take this amount of time and the amount of victims that we know have been accumulated."
Sjoholm, who met Leviev on Tinder in March 2018, said he defrauded her within months.
She eventually handed over more than 600,000 kronor ($65,000) that was never returned.
"His arrest is a win," she said.
"Thank you to the country that issued the international arrest warrant."
Now 38, Sjoholm said she has rebuilt her life.
"I was so devastated back in 2018, 2019. And to stand here today and just be so happy... It's incredible," she said, describing her current family life as "very happy."
She has since become involved in campaigns against financial fraud, calling for tighter regulation on artificial intelligence and deepfakes.
"We need to see fraud as more than just a money loss. We need to see it as the emotional abuse that these victims live through," she said.
Sjoholm added that she is prepared to testify against Leviev in the event of a trial.
