Known as the ‘Tinder swindler,’ Israeli citizen Shimon Yehuda Hayut, 29, convicted for pretending to be the son of a millionaire on the online dating app Tinder to convince women to lend him large sums of money, also faked being a paramedic to be vaccinated, Mako reported on Tuesday.
Hayut shared on Monday a video on his social media of himself getting vaccinated. Investigations were pursued to understand how a young man in his 30s managed to be vaccinated while the priority in Israel was given only to medical staff and elderly people above 60, with hundreds still waiting for it.
The Clalit medical center where he was vaccinated said that he pretended to be a paramedic while he claimed to be attached to medical staff who came to receive the vaccine.
In response to the allegations, Hayut said: "I am not a person waiting in line."
In response to the case, Clalit Health Fund said that, from now on, the people coming for vaccination and that are defined as medical staff will be required to present a certificate.
Hayut claimed to Channel 12 that he was at risk from the virus and got vaccinated because of his medical condition, which Clalit refuted, claiming according to his record, that he had no problematic medical history.
Hayut threatened to sue the health fund for divulging this information.
“I am not someone who waits in line or at places,” said Hayut in response, Mako reported. “With all due respect, I will not sit and wait 3-4 hours. I am not someone who waits and no one can say a word about it.”
Hayut also said that Clalit’s claim that he had pretended to be a medic was “a lie,” adding, “I am a businessman... I have money. I can buy anyone or anything that I want.”
When asked if he had paid to be vaccinated, Hayut answered, “Let’s say yes. I had an appointment [to be vaccinated], perhaps there was a bug in the computer. This is a third world country, after all.”Hayut was released from prison earlier this year after only five months of a 15-month sentence under a program aimed at reducing the prison population amid fears of a coronavirus outbreak among inmates. He returned to his life of luxury, infuriating his fraud victims.One of his victims said then to N12 that they were "in shock from the decision to release him. I’m really disappointed by [Israel’s] justice system which gives a man like that a reduced sentence. He deceived people and left prison after five months? Did you go crazy in Israel?”
On Thursday, Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said that Israel will have a two-week break in the vaccination of the general public due to an expected shortage of vaccines and the need to hold on to an amount that can be used for the second "booster" shot required by people who have been inoculated once.