The Tinder Swindler reveals the painful truth about women and online dating | Emma Brockes

Netflix's documentary confirms some realities that in more optimistic moments one might have thought out of date

The first surprise of The Tinder Swindler, Netflix's hit film and the only documentary to have topped its global most-watched list, is that anyone is still using Tinder.

The swindler" of the title is preposterous in every way, but he chose his victims well: women in their early 30s blinded to the absurdity of a billionaire's son" using that dusty old dating app, which has no door policy. The second thing to say about this engrossing film is that any online dating scam that results in a woman merely being defrauded of her savings, rather than robbed of her life, practically qualifies as comedy.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist