Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Entertainment
Maisie Lillywhite

Tinder Swindler: Woman was scammed out of £200,000 by master conman, who posed as billionaire playboy

A new show is coming to Netflix this week which will depict the struggles of women who found themselves in thousands of pounds of debt after being lured in by a conman on a dating app.

The Tinder Swindler will arrive on the streaming service on Wednesday, February 2, and is about the serial fraudster who pretended to be the son of an Israeli diamond merchant to dive into the pockets of women he met on Tinder.

In 2019, Cecile Fjellhoy was convinced she had found The One when she matched with alleged billionaire 'Simon Leviev' on the dating app, The Daily Mail reports.

Read more: Could Siânnise Fudge and Luke Trotman still be together? This clue suggests that they may still be a thing

At the time, Norwegian graduate student Fjellhoy, 29, was living in London when the supposed billionaire arranged for a private jet to take the couple to Bulgaria from the British capital on their first date.

But what Fjellhoy did not know is that the self-proclaimed 'Prince of Diamonds', 'Simon Leviev', was actually Shimon Hayut, a convicted conman who had previously served several years in prison in Finland after defrauding a number of women so he could pay for his luxury lifestyle full of private jets, lavish hotels and fancy cars.

After meeting women on Tinder, he would shower them in expensive presents and trips, which he funded using the money he had scammed other women out of.

Hayut's victims have now shed light on their individual experiences with the conman in 'The Tinder Swindler'.

Ahead of the show's release, Fjellhoy appeared on Lorraine this morning (February 1) to discuss the toll the situation had taken on her.

She explained that, since sharing her story, she had been victim blamed and called a gold digger.

Fjellhoy said: "I think what happened was so extraordinary and it was such a weird and movie like what it was, and I didn't want to put that on other men, it's not other men's fault what he did to me.

'And he's taken so much from us. I didn't want him to take that part of me, that truly believes in love and I'm still trying but it's been painful.

"We kind of knew it might come, but to be called a gold-digger for giving out money, like we said, we must be the worst gold-diggers in history."

Two of Hayut's victims appeared on Lorraine to discuss their experiences (ITV)

Now, Fjellhoy is bankrupt in the UK, but has loans mostly in Norway, after being conned out of more than £200,000 by Hayut.

She told Lorraine: "The thing is that they are very smart about it, he doesn't ask for money the first time, it's more security of the name.

"I know it's the same thing but when you're in it, he's asking 'I can't use my cards, like they're going to track my name, can I use your card?' So that's how they started it."

Hayut lured women into giving him their money by claiming his name was Simon Leviev, the son of billionaire businessman Lev Leviev.

But in reality, Hayut was a serial fraudster who used his charm to prey on unsuspecting single women via online dating apps, which earned him the nickname: 'The Tinder Swindler'.

In December 2019, Hayut was arrested and imprisoned, but was released the following May, after serving just five months of his fifteen-month sentence.

Let us know what you think of this story by logging in and dropping a comment down below.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.