A victim of the Tinder Swindler has said she is ‘incredibly sad’ to see him continuing to flaunt a flashy lifestyle on social media despite being exposed in the hit Netflix documentary.
Cecilie Fjellhøy lost $200,000 (£159,000) which led to her being pursued through the bankruptcy courts after she and two other women were duped by Israeli fraudster Simon Leviev.
The Londoner, 37, also told Metro of the need for lonely hearts using dating apps ‘to be mindful of what is real and what is fake’ and to be aware of the tricks used by fraudsters.
The true crime documentary told how Leviev posed as the high-rolling son of a billionaire diamond dealer while allegedly conning his online matches out of millions of dollars.
Unknown to Cecilie, Leviev, who legally changed his name from Shimon Heyada Hayut, had served a two-year prison sentence in Finland for defrauding three women before he met her.
Leviev is currently promoting ‘my next Netflix movie’ on Instagram along with a meme token named $TIND, which he said will launch today.
Videos on his account show him pulling up in a $578,000 Rolls-Royce Spectre in Dubai and saying he is a businessman who will give a portion of the crypto funds to charity.
Leviev told Metro last night that his accusers are ‘pathological liars’ and ‘paid actresses’ who should be happy that his Tinder-theme venture is donating a percentage to a women’s cause.
‘The victims have been incredibly upset and disappointed to see his activities on social media, including through the crypto coin he says he is launching,’ Cecilie said.
‘He is lying when he says he is recording a new Tinder Swindler documentary with Netflix.
‘I’ve had people ask me about it and I’ve pointed out that I am in touch with Netflix and I know it’s not happening.
‘What makes me angry is that, while he can say what he likes on social media, he is being given a microphone by the mainstream media, such as on several radio shows in Dubai, where he can defame his victims.
‘I’m incredibly sad that this guy has escaped justice in Europe and in the UK, where there is an active case of company fraud against him.
‘Six years have passed, but he is still free to con other people and continue his criminal pathway.’
Leviev enveloped Cecilie in his jet-setting lifestyle before telling her that his security guard had been stabbed and he was in trouble with his ‘enemies’, with his cards no longer working.
Believing his life was in danger, she racked up huge debts trying to help him out with money transfers.
In the documentary, Leviev is estimated to have scammed around £7.4 million from the women while spinning them a world of lavish dates and international trips.
The ordeal took up ‘so much of my time, energy, money and tears’ after she discovered the truth, Cecilie told Metro.
‘People tend to think of romance fraud victims as vulnerable old ladies, whereas the reality is that people are vulnerable at different times and in different ways,’ she said.
‘Fraudsters are looking for something in you that they can take advantage of. I’d just moved from London to Norway, with no close family, and I was between 29 and 30 working a normal nine to five and I’d had no problem picking men before, I was friends with all my exes.
‘He came across as charismatic, supportive and funny, and he had friends who spoke highly of him, but I didn’t realise at the time that he was hiding his party lifestyle from me, even blocking me from his Instagram stories.
‘He sent me lots of supportive messages, which I now know was love bombing, even saying we were going to be married and have kids.
‘He then told me he needed the money for security and he had to be away from me for his own safety, when he was only going out to party.
‘It just got worse from there.’
Cecilie ended up in a psychiatric ward as she discovered that the handsome young Israeli who called himself the ‘Prince of Diamonds’ had been spinning her a web of lies.
‘People think I was travelling around with him but I was in London working with my money going to 5-star restaurants and business class trips for him and his entire team,’ she said.
‘When I visited him, whole situations were set up for me to be there so he could play the role of a diamond company CEO, it was a kind of immersive theatre. It took a long time and a lot of stress to work out what was going on and to recover from it.
‘When I look back, I’m just so grateful for the Tinder Swindler documentary for making people around the world aware of what he was doing, as well as other fraudsters, and for giving me a new purpose raising awareness of romance fraud.’
Despite achieving worldwide notoriety, Leviev was never charged for scamming any of the women shown in the Netflix documentary.
In 2019, he was jailed for 15 months in Israel for using a fake passport in Greece before being released five months later on good behaviour.
The conviction followed the two-year sentence he received in Finland in 2015 over the defrauding of three women in the country.
Cecilie, a public speaker and fraud prevention consultant, has gone back on to dating apps but is wary of the tricks and techniques scammers use.
‘I am on dating apps still and meeting people in real life too but I’m always careful now and I know all the methods and tricks used by the fraudsters,’ she said. ‘Whenever I find fake profiles I report them.
‘While the Tinder Swindler has taken so much of my time, energy, money and tears I am still hopeful, because I don’t want him to take away my chance of meeting someone in the future.’
Despite the documentary receiving worldwide acclaim after its release in 2022, romance fraud rose by nearly 10% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the year to June 2024, according to the City of London Police.
The financial impact amounted to £94.7 million, with untold emotional and psychological damage.
Cecilie has co-founded the LoveSaid organisation, which aims to prevent romance fraud and to support and empower those affected, many of whom have told her they can’t face going on.
‘On Valentine’s Day I would say to look out for tricks that the fraudsters use,’ she said.
‘They include mirroring, where they mirror the kind of person you want to meet based on what you say, and coercive control, where they might start out by asking you questions to test your compliance, to see if you do as they say.
‘I would say to take a step back, take a breath, and when it comes to online dating do a reverse image search, check the resources provided by the police and reach out to us at LoveSaid if you need to.
‘Romance fraud deserves to be taken seriously because the victims are abused people, and there is a link with domestic abuse.’
(Picture: Cecilie Fjellhøy, @cecilie_)
Cecilie still believes that there is hope amid the myriad horror stories.
‘I was emotionally and financially abused and in an intimate relationship I wouldn’t have consented to if I’d have known the truth,’ she says
‘Some people might say we have money to throw away but a lot of us have suffered financially and even had to sell houses.
‘Because of the stigma and the shame, victims of romance fraud have come to us saying they feel they have no right to live any more.
‘I don’t have any problem with online dating but we need to be careful in all aspects and mindful of what is real and what is fake.
‘Maybe you won’t fall for a prince of diamonds, but there is someone out for everyone.’
Be safe looking for love online
*If you have met someone via a dating app, stay within the messaging function of the application. Don’t feel pressured to hand over your mobile number and move the conversation over to SMS or a messaging platform like WhatsApp or Telegram.
*Be suspicious of any requests for money from someone you have never met in person.
*Be cautious about how much personal information you are sharing online and who you are sharing information with.
*Speak to your family or friends to get advice and perspective. Fraudsters will subtly isolate you for their own purposes.
*Profile photos may not be genuine. Performing a reverse image search can find photos that have been taken from somewhere, or someone, else.
More information is available from LoveSaid or Action Fraud
(Source: City of London Police)
Leviev hit back at the victims who appeared in the Netflix documentary, describing them as ‘pathological liars’ and ‘paid actresses.’
He claimed that they had received money from a GoFundMe page after the movie and from interviews and promotions but ‘still continue lying.’
In an Instagram message, Leviev said ‘I suggest they may find a life’ in the context of emotional damage.
He continued: ‘There is 3 police and legal complaints against the women In Greece and Israel. And this is that they are not part of the movie I am making so they claim and make lies so let the authorities investigate.’
Leviev also told Metro that 5% of his crypto coin would be going a women’s charity and ‘if they really care about women’s empowerment, they should be happy about this project.’
He has also said on his channel that his meme coin is not a fraud.
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