SWIPING on Tinder, Cecilie Fjellhoy, finally found a man she thought ticked all the boxes.
He was charming, attentive, and the son and , or so she thought.
Cecilie Fjellhoy was a victim of the Tinder Swidler Simon Leveiv after he stole £200k from her
While he never got convicted for his crime against Cecilie, she is getting revenge in her own way
Now, she’s helping other romance scam victims find their fraudsters
But in just 13 weeks, Simon had stolen £200,000 from credit card and did it to numerous other women too.
After changing his name from Shimon Hayut, Simon Leviev used to seduce and con women out of an estimated £7.4 million.
Leviev was a wanted man in several European countries, having fled Israel in 2011 to avoid fraud charges.
In 2019, he was arrested in for using a fake passport and extradited to .
He faced charges for fraud, theft, and forgery, but none of these charges were related to his Tinder scheme that left Cecilie bankrupt and traumatised.
But Cecilie and numerous other victims were not about to go quietly, instead, with the help of they exposed Simon’s scheme, infamously dubbing him the Tindler Swindler.
At the age of 26, Cecilie had just moved to in 2019 when she met on Tinder in 2018.
“I right swiped on a man who I met up with in person very quickly. And he was the CEO of a big diamond company,” she told Fabulous.
“It started quickly, moved into a relationship that was incredibly nice, he was super attentive, charming.”
For Cecilie, it started as a whirlwind romance – he showered her with hundreds of roses delivered to her door, but within a matter of weeks, Simon would ask Cecilie to help him out financially.
Besotted with the image of her perfect man, Cecilie was happy to help out the man she loved and pay for his travel as competitors of the diamond were hunting him down.
He spun a story Cecilie still remembers to this day.
“His security team told him to stop travelling around because they could see where he was by the spend on his card. And he asked, ‘Can I just borrow to travel under your name?'” she recalls.
“It starts small, and by the time he asked, he had been a great boyfriend. I didn’t want to turn my back on him.”
She eventually sought help at a psychiatric unit and has spent the last seven years .
She “never wanted to be on” antidepressants but explains that she “needed them.”
Due to being hit with a lawsuit by creditors and barging into her home, Cecilie needed to be on antidepressants.
POWER BACK
But now, Cecilie is reclaiming her power; not only is she at the forefront of policy and changes, she is now actively helping victims get justice.
Cecilie, now 36, has released a new Netflix , Love Con Revenge, using her own experience as a victim to help others hunt down fraudsters like Simon, as a form of revenge for the trauma he put her through.
She says: ” He’s really angry, I think the more angry he is with the successes all the women have had after him, that is the justice that we’re having.
“He continues being nothing. And we are active.
“I think he regrets so much the day that he decided to meet me. I think he looked at me as pretty weak and now I have this movement, this series to help even more victims.
“It’s kind of funny to see him squirm and being small.”
The six-part series sees Cecilie team up with private investigator Brianne Joseph to highlight just how easily it can happen and highlight just what effect is has on victims.
“What I think is so sad about this type of is that when you’ve been subjected to it, everyone’s asking about your actions,” she adds.
“‘Why did you trust them? Why did you transfer? I would never transfer.’ Great for you. I’m happy you never met a criminal before.”
But for Cecilie, it’s not the monetary abuse that needs to be highlighted, it’s the emotional abuse victims are subjected to.
Unlike a phone or email scam, these fraudsters spend time developing intimate, sometimes sexual with their victims to win their trust before taking advantage of it, something Cecilie knows all too well.
“With in-person (romance scammers), you have the added intimate abuse, the psychopathy,” she explains.
“You didn’t consent to that relationship. Now that is devastating for me, too.”
Cecilie huntind down fraudsters in her new Netflix documentary, Love Con Revenge Protecting Yourself From Romance Scams
Jonathan Frost, Director of Global Advisory for EMEA at BioCatch and ex-law enforcement officer reveals what you can do to protect yourself form romance scams.
Romance fraud relies on psychological manipulation, not on the victim being gullible. Fraudsters often employ coercive control tactics to deceive individuals.
Here’s the 1, 2, 3 of what to look for:
- The setup: Fraudsters often share benign details early in conversation, describing their home, business, or plans. Later, they’ll use these details to reinforce their story and to make money requests appear legitimate and reasonable.
- The empathy trap: Fraudsters seek to evoke strong emotions, prompt you to offer help, and urge you to act instinctively. If in doubt, take a step back; it is in the criminal’s interest for you to act without thinking.
- Isolation: Fraudsters may try to prevent you from getting help, make you feel guilty for asking questions, or discourage you from talking to friends or family about the relationship.
Never send money, receive, or transfer money on someone else’s behalf; the same applies to parcels.
- If you think you might be a victim, act now: stop all communication with the scammer, stay on the platform where you met them, and report their profile to protect others.
- If you met in person, call the police on 101. If not, report to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (or 101 in Scotland) without delay.
- Speak to a friend or relative or contact a victim support service. https://victimandwitnessinformation.org.uk/find-support
- If you sent money, act quickly: call your bank immediately, and tell them if you have given access to your online banking or payment cards.
RED FLAGS
While filming the documentary, Cecilie was stunned by how many of the fraudsters used the same tactics even she was subjected to.
“I could always take it back to how Simon was to me and the messages he was sending to me,” Cecilie says.
Cecilie revealed many of the con artists used similar techniques to Simon
“Some of them were eerily similar, which I think is very fascinating, as it has nothing to do with .”
Cecilie revealed that fraudsters often start off testing their victims for ‘compliance.’
“It’s like they’re testing you for compliance, ‘Are you this type of person that will do a lot for me?’ ‘Would you change where we will meet?’ ‘Would you change your diet for me?'”
Of course, love bombing is a huge technique they use at the beginning to earn your trust and loyalty quickly adds Cecilie.
Another red flag that she often spotted with love con scammers were the types of careers they chose to portray.
These included baseball players, doctors, and working overseas.
Cecilie says not only does this portray someone who has a talent, it’s also financially secure enough to make it seem like they don’t need your money.
Now Cecilie has helped change public opinion on scam victims, she also wants policy changes too.
“I would love to see a future where these criminals have to stand trial for what they did to us as humans, not only the money that they stole from us, but as well, that mental abuse, that intimate abuse,” she says.
“If there’s one thing I would love, it’s that these fraudsters will have more years in because what they’re doing is really, really serious. And people have taken their own lives over this.”
Love Con Revenge is available to stream on Netflix now.
The show is available to watch now on Netflix 
