Credit: Netflix
Under Her Eye
Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler exclusive: “It was the ultimate emotional con”
3 years ago
2 min read
Netflix’s latest true crime documentary tells the story of the ‘Tinder Swindler’, an international grifter who seduced and defrauded women to fuel his lavish lifestyle. Stylist speaks to Cecilie Fjellhøy, one of his victims, about how she uncovered his elaborate scam.
Cecilie Fjellhøy’s story is enough to scare anyone off dating apps, but that’s not what she wants you to take from it. “This isn’t a tale about the dangers of online dating,” she tells Stylist via Zoom one Friday afternoon, settling down to tell her side of one of the most mind-bending true crime stories to ever grace our screens. “It’s a tale about fraud – and about trusting the wrong people.”
Norwegian native Fjellhøy is the central voice in new two-hour documentary The Tinder Swindler
Credit: Netflix
When Fjellhøy met Shimon, he was going by a different name: Simon Leviev, the so-called son of an Israeli diamond mogul and billionaire. She came across his Tinder profile while she was working and studying in London, looking for interesting people to meet and hang out with, and immediately swiped right. “He looked like an interesting, well-travelled guy,” she says. “Although, one of my first questions to him was about his pictures, all posing in expensive cars and private jets. ‘Aren’t you worried about the kind of people you might attract?’ I said. He replied: ‘This is my life. The person I’m going to be with should know exactly who I am.’” Those words couldn’t have been further from the truth.
This is my life. The person I’m going to be with should know exactly who I am…
Over the course of the next three months, Fjellhøy was wined, dined and whisked away on a private jet by Hayut – it was clear the man she was dating had a lot of money. But that’s not what attracted her, she says. “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. Not once did it cross my mind that he wasn’t who he said he was.”
In the documentary, screenshots of their WhatsApp exchanges show a whirlwind romance. “He made me feel so special – no matter when I called, he’d pick up, and he remembered all these little things about me. He’d send beautiful bouquets to my apartment and text me every morning,” Fjellhøy says. “I’m a sucker for old-fashioned romance, so in some ways I was the perfect victim. He knew how to reel me in.”
Credit: Netflix
But three months in, the fairytale turned to a thriller: Fjellhøy began receiving worried voice notes from Hayut, who told her his life was at risk and his “enemies” were threatening violence – the diamond world, he said, was a dangerous one. “One night he sent me a video of him and his bodyguard in an ambulance; his head was bleeding. I was absolutely terrified for him.” That’s when Hayut asked if he could use a credit card in Fjellhøy’s name to make it more difficult for anyone to trace him. “I was like, oh my god, we’re in a crisis and this is my boyfriend. Of course I’ll help,” she says.
I was like, oh my god, we’re in a crisis and this is my boyfriend. Of course I’ll help
Credit: Netflix
The next few weeks were a whirlwind of sleepless nights and intense pressure for Fjellhøy, as Hayut racked up more and more debt in her name and bombarded with her with messages about the danger he was in and stress he was under. She’d given him use of credit cards in her name from several banks, as well as taking out a loan to hand over to him in cash “to keep him safe”. “It was the ultimate emotional con,” she says. “I just felt like I was on a wheel and I couldn’t get off. Now I’ve had time to reflect and learn more about how fraudsters like him operate, I know that was always the plan: to keep me in such emotional distress that I couldn’t think straight.”
I know that was always the plan: to keep me in such emotional distress that I couldn’t think straight
As The Tinder Swindler shows, though, Fjellhøy is a woman determined to seek justice for what Hayut did to her – and to countless other women. When she finally found out who he really was, she’d already been defrauded out of roughly £188,000. The authorities have yet to treat Hayut’s actions as a crime, though, so she’s still legally bankrupt and working to repay her debts. “It’s crazy to me that my life has been destroyed and he’s still out there, doing God knows what,” she says.
Credit: Netflix
Thanks to the tireless actions of Fjellhøy and two of his other victims – Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte – Hayut was eventually tracked down with the help of journalists in 2019. It only resulted in a five-month stint in jail for crimes other than the ones he committed against the women, and today he’s free and said to be living in Israel – but Fjellhøy refuses to give up.
“I want him to be held accountable, and I want people to see how messed up it is that we
The Tinder Swindler is available to stream on Netflix on 2 February
Images: Netflix
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