Who is Simon Leviev's GF Cecilie Fjellhoy? 'Tinder Swindler' banned from dating apps
Conman Shimon Heyada Hayut AKA Simon Leviev is now banned from Tinder, OK Cupid, Plenty of Fish, and other dating apps after Netflix documentary ‘Tinder Swindler’ exposed him as a fraudster who duped women by luring them with an extravagant lifestyle.
The charming 30-year-old from Israel operated under several aliases, including Simon Leviev, and is estimated to have conned his victims out of £7.4 million ($10 million). After conning the women, Hayut was on the run for years before he was finally arrested in 2019 while using a fake passport in Greece.
The serial fraudster had been a fugitive from Israel since 2011 -- where he is wanted for fraud, theft, and forgery, but still managed to skip out on two sentencing before he was finally arrested. The jury is still out on how many other women fell for his scams but once he had gained the women's trust, the fraudster would convince them to loan him money under false pretenses. He would later use the money to reel in other victims by flaunting his expensive lifestyle and treating them to lavish gifts and hangouts.
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Following the exposé on the streaming giant, Match Group, which owns Tinder, Ok Cupid, Hinge, PlentyofFish, OurTime, Meetic, Pairs, and Match, informed that Shimon is now banned from creating profiles on the platforms after violating its terms of agreement. The dating services company also revealed that Hayut currently does not have an active account on any of its member-apps, and assured that if such an account is spotted, it will be deleted with immediate effect.
Hayut also served two years in a Finnish prison for conning three women in 2015. He was later sent back to Israel in 2017 to face charges for his previous offenses. Hayut successfully fled Israel again with a new assumed identity and this time he met Cecilie Fjellhoy posing as 'Simon Leviev,' son of the billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev.
Who is Cecilie Fjellhoy?
Cecilie Fjellhoy is a 33-year-old Norwegian woman who was a victim and once the girlfriend of Simon Leviev. The London-based UX designer opened up about her experience of dating the famous conman on ‘The Tinder Swindler’.
In January 2018, Fjellhoy met with Hayut, who posed as a high-powered CEO for LDD Diamonds who constantly traveled for work. He claimed to be the son of Israeli businessman Lev Leviev. "He tells me that his dad is the 'King of Diamonds,' and that means I'm the prince," said Cecilie.
To support his story Hayut legally changed his last name to Leviev and hired a team of fake assistants, a bodyguard among others, and invited Fjellhoy to meet for coffee at the Four Seasons in London after the two matched on Tinder. After finishing their drink, he asked the blonde graduate student if she wanted to join him on his private jet for a business trip to Bulgaria, leaving that afternoon.
Fjellhoy said she was convinced when she saw his 'team' of employees that were joining them. Fjellhoy was taken in by the strong long-distance romance that continued over daily love notes over text, videos, and voice messages. "This was the first time where I felt like 'Oh my god I really like him. And it seems that he really likes me back as well,'' Fjellhoy told 'Nightline' on ABC in 2019.
Hayut shared glimpses of his life through clips of himself on private jets, driving Ferraris, and closeups of his luxury watches to her. In a voice note shared by Fjellhoy, he says, “I never felt this way, if you had told me I wouldn't even imagine it or believe it. I love you my future wife."
Hayut always hinted to Cecilie about the inherent danger to his life as a result of being in the diamond industry which he used as an excuse to avoid meeting. He even went as far as sending photos of himself and his bodyguard in a hospital, after alleging they were 'attacked.' A month later Hayut asked Fjellhoy to take out a massive line of credit for him as a precautionary security measure to avoid a paper trail in his name. As told, Fjellhoy filled out an application for an American Express Platinum Card filed against an income of $200,000
"It felt good to be able to give it to him and say, 'Here's my credit card. I managed it,'" said Fjellhoy. In just 54 days, the charming Israeli imposter spent $224,220 and maxed out her Amex. Hayut also shared a forged bank letter from TD Bank attesting his transfer of $500,000 to her account. Fjellhoy opened ten more lines of credit to continue her relationship while the money her boyfriend promised to repay wasn't coming in.
After three months into the relationship Fjellhoy finally realized that Hayut had stolen her money. "I almost wanted to throw up, it was the first time in my life that I had gotten such a shock that my body physically was telling me that, 'OK your life is ruined,' everything came crashing down around me," she said. Fjellhoy, who lost $200,000 because of Leviev's scam, is still paying off her debts as a result. The 33-year-old blonde now runs ‘action:reaction’, an organization that supports victims of fraud.