Online dating can be difficult, and it may seem too good to be true when you meet a nice guy who a paramedic, undercover officer or is in the security field -- especially when he claims to be all these things at once.
That hot date may be trying to sweep you off your feet so he can better reach your wallet, as seen in the case of one man that had his prison sentence increased from two to three years on Sunday, according to the Attorney-General's office.
No doubt some women wished they had swiped left on Rotem Mizrahi, who was known by some of his romantic partners as Rotem Gertler or Rotem Katzir.
Mizrahi met his victims on dating apps, and while some in the dating world are less than forthcoming about personal details, "Among other things, Mizrahi used to lie about his name, past, occupation, place of residence," said the A-G's office.
The courting con man's profession changed almost as much as his place of residence. Sometimes he owned apartments and lived in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Soon, he lived in several other places -- his victims' homes. The A-G said that Mizrahi maintained multiple romantic relationships while living with the victims, during which he stole money or belongings from them. The victims also accussed Mizrahi of receiving gifts from them under fraudulent circumstances.
Sentencing
Tel Aviv District Attorney officer's Uri Goldstein explained that the past that Mizrahi had lied about was full of similar incidents.
From 2009-2021, "for over a decade he committed fraudulent offenses similar to those in our case, in 28 different investigation files," Goldstein said has he appealed Mizrahi's original 2 year sentence.
Mizrahi had served three periods of imprisonment totaling up to 6.5 years during that decade, in two occasions committing further romance frauds only months of getting out of prison.
The Tel Aviv District court agreed to increase his sentence by a year in light of Mizrahi's devious dating history. He was also fined NIS 5,000 and NIS 50,000 to his victims.