The Tinder Swindler: Ex-girlfriend tricked out of £188,000 by scam artist
Cecilie Fjellhøy was tricked into letting Shimon Hayut use credit cards in her name
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An ex-girlfriend and victim of the subject of Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler has revealed that she lost around £188,000 to his scam.
An upcoming documentary series on the streaming platform will tell the story of the victims of Shimon Hayut, an international con artist accused of using dating app Tinder to seduce and emotionally exploit women for financial gain.
It’s currently estimated that Hayut has defrauded women across the world of at least $10m (£7.4m).
Cecilie Fjellhøy dated Hayut some years ago after they matched on the app. At the time, she believed him to be Simon Leviev, the son of a diamond mogul and billionaire.
Ahead of the release of the series, Fjellhøy told Stylist about their relationship and the manipulative tactics Hayut used to take her money.
“He’s just magnetic. He seemed super smart and ambitious, and everyone I met was vouching for him: his bodyguard, his driver – I even met his ex-partner and their daughter,” Fjellhøy said.
“Not once did it cross my mind that he wasn’t who he said he was.”
Fjellhøy said that Hayut made her feel “special” during the early stages of their relationship by remembering sentimental details and making romantic gestures.
“He’d send beautiful bouquets to my apartment and text me every morning,” she explained. “I’m a sucker for old-fashioned romance, so in some ways, I was the perfect victim. He knew how to reel me in.”
However, after Hayut falsely claimed that he was in trouble with people in the diamond industry, Fjellhøy allowed him to use credit cards in her name to make it harder for people to trace him.
The documentary shows how, over the next few weeks, Hayut amassed large debts on Fjellhøy’s accounts, while fear for his safety and emotional distress convinced Fjellhøy to let the spending continue.
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By the time she realised his true identity and motivations, he had allegedly defrauded her out of £188,000 and “destroyed” her life.
Despite several former love interests coming forward with stories of being conned by Hayut, he is thought to be living freely in Israel as authorities have yet to classify his actions as crimes.
Explaining why she’s not giving up on getting justice, Fjellhøy says that she’s determined for him, and not the women, to get the blame for what happened.
“People message me on Instagram to tell me I deserved what I got or that I’m a gold-digger,” she said. “The women are always to blame, but not this time. That can’t be how this story ends.”
The Tinder Swindler comes to Netflix on Wednesday 2 February.
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