Enjoyed 'The Tinder Swindler'? Five other shocking Netflix documentaries to stream

From conmen and scandals to families torn apart, there are plenty of intriguing stories to see on the platform

Since its release last week, Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler has been captivating and angering audiences in equal measure.

The documentary film tells the story of three women who were each conned out of tens of thousands of dollars by a man they met on Tinder, Simon Leviev, who was posing as the millionaire son of an Israeli diamond tycoon.

Watch the trailer for the film above.

The documentary’s many twists and turns have seen it shoot to the top of Netflix’s most-watched charts around the globe, and left people hungry for more shocking documentary content.

Luckily, Netflix has plenty more where that came from. Here are five other documentaries and films to stream if you enjoyed The Tinder Swindler.

‘Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer’

Made by Raw TV, the same studio behind The Tinder Swindler, Don’t F**k With Cats tells the even more shocking tale of a group of animal rights internet sleuths determined to find the man behind a number of disturbing videos uploaded to YouTube, showing him torturing and murdering cats.

What follows is a risky game of cat-and-mouse that takes some tragic wrong turns, but ultimately leads to the uncovering of the culprit, but not before he is able to take his spree of violence to devastating new levels.

‘Three Identical Strangers’

While not true crime, Three Identical Strangers is a shocking and heart-wrenching tale about three identical triplets, Edward Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran, who were adopted separately as babies, and only learnt of each other’s existence by sheer chance when they were of college age.

Initial shock turns to joy and garners global attention, but the reunion is soon marred by anger and tragedy, with the families’ many unanswered questions being met with closed books from the authorities involved.

‘The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman’

This three-part series tells the stories of two families torn apart by one man’s lies and coercive control. British con artist Robert Hendy-Freegard is at the heart of The Puppet Master, a convicted criminal who stole 10 years from one of his targets, and who ripped a mother away from her two teenage children. Posing under the guise of an undercover MI5 agent, Hendy-Freegard convinced his targets they needed to go on the run from the Irish Republican Army, moving from place to place and gradually cutting contact with family and friends, save for regular requests for money.

The documentary features the brave and honest accounts of Sarah Smith, who recounts the levels of control she experienced at the hands of Hendy-Freegard, as well as the emotional stories of Jake and Sophie Clifton, who have not seen their mother, Sandra Clifton, for more than seven years since she left with her boyfriend “David”, who of course, turned out to be the same man.

‘Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal’

In 2019, the US was rocked by the college admissions scandal, which blew the lid on a culture of the elite upper class trying to pay their way to landing their children places at Ivy League colleges. The scandal resulted in 90210 star Lori Loughlin spending two months in jail.

This dramatised film recreates real conversations from FBI wire tapes to offer chilling insight into just how many families could have gotten away with the practise, as well as the short cuts money and status can buy.

‘Lords of Scam’

This French true-crime documentary offers insight into the underworld of a group of scammers who used a series of financial loopholes to con the European Union carbon quota system out of millions of euros. However, the lavish post-con life soon comes crashing down thanks to in-fighting and feuds, which eventually led members to start turning each other in.

The 105-minute film details the monumental downfall of seemingly perfect crimes.

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Conmen, cults and clemency: 5 true crime documentaries to stream now