The Tinder Swindler & co show fraud is not made in Nigeria

First, it was The Tinder Swindler, then Inventing Anna, and then Bad Vegan. Now, Trust No One is the newest on the block. These are all series on Netflix, and they are about fraud and crime in one form or the other. The other thing is that none of these was made by a Nigerian filmmaker none is of them about Nigerian fraudsters. Surprised? Considering the bad rap Nigeria gets around the world for internet fraud, I can say I am surprised. Remember the Nigerian Prince emails?

So, let’s look at the series: When I first saw The Tinder Swindler (directed by Felicity Morris), I’d thought it was a feature film and of course that it was fiction. I was also thinking of how the story sounded a little like (a better version of) the Nollywood film Slay by Elvis Chucks. In Slay, Ramsey Nouah’s character snags girls through social media as he pretends to be rich. Meanwhile, he’s a jobless applicant living in his rich cousin’s house which he passes off as his, among other things. Simple enough except that the producers of Slay decided to complicate or convolute what should’ve been straightforward. In the case of The Tinder Swindler, Simon Leviev (born Shimon Hayut) is a brazen Israeli conman. He pretended to be the son of ‘king of diamonds’ Lev Leviev (who is now suing him) for falsely using his name. He lived large, really large, and used this flashy lifestyle to attract several women on the dating app, Tinder. His playbook was to act as a gentle rich man, get the women hooked, and soon enough, begin to squeeze them dry for cash. One of the women who’s now in debt even borrowed money to give to Simon who’d told her they were going to start a life together.  He did serve some time in Finland but escaped to Israel. He didn’t really escape as the police weren’t really trying to convict him. In fact, what became The Tinder Swindler was thanks to dogged journalists. For what it’s worth, Nigeria or Nigerians were not mentioned in this story. Not as main actors, or supporting actors.

Then came Inventing Anna. Inventing Anna tells the story of real-life convicted con artist, Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin). I was drawn to this series because it’s created by Shonda Rhimes and because of Julia Garner who played Anna. Garner is wonderful in another Netflix series, Ozark. Anna pretended to be a German heiress and tried to con New York’s super-rich out of money to set up her company. While I was watching Inventing Anna, I was certain it was fiction because I was sure the creators had added some embellishments. Anyway, I discovered after the fact that the original Anna is still alive. She had been reacting to a post credited to her then-friend Rachel Williams who had complained that the series perhaps romanticised Anna too much. In the series, Katie Lowes (Scandal) played the role of Rachel, Anna’s ‘friend’ who was initially sold on the story about Anna coming from a wealthy German family. Needless to say, I didn’t see any Nigerians in this series.

As for Bad Vegan, I have yet to see it but here’s a description: “After marrying a mysterious man who claimed he could make her dog immortal, a vegan restaurateur finds her life veering off the rails, my list is growing.” Just as I was planning to watch Bad Vegan, before I could say 4-1-9, another series appeared on Netflix “Trust No One. Trust No One tells the shocking story of Gerald ‘Gerry’ Cotten, charting his rise to the top of Bitcoin and his dramatic fall, leaving his legacy tarnished. So, who is Gerry Cotten and where is he now?”

From the looks of things, Netflix looks ready to keep rolling out these kinds of films and documentaries. It has become obvious that the thoughts I had when I saw the first docu-drama The Tinder Swindler are still relevant. We are not on any of the series and nothing about Nigeria. Isn’t this obvious that Nigeria is not the capital of fraud? And that fraud is not manufactured from Nigeria to the rest of the world? This is not just me grasping at straws, in all the hot lists of crime out there, Nigeria isn’t in the Top 10. Of course, I’m sure you can tell that I’m not denying the existence of fraud, 419, and yahoo-yahoo in Nigeria. But I must say the brazenness and sophistication of some of the alleged crimes in these series almost make Hushpuppi look like a Versace-wearing amateur. I must also qualify this article as being my idea and that I wasn’t commissioned by the newly renamed Yu Tu Lai to write this.