The Tinder Swindler Victims Finally Turn the Tables
So, have you ever heard about the Tinder Swindler ? If not, buckle up—because it’s one of the most jaw-dropping tales of modern-day deception. It all started with a man who called himself Simon Leviev, claiming to be the billionaire heir to the Leviev diamond fortune. He used Tinder as his hunting ground, and for a while, nobody saw it coming.
From 2017 to 2019, Leviev—whose real name is actually Shimon Hayut—conned women across Europe out of an estimated £7.4 million. He created an illusion of luxury: private jets, expensive dinners, bodyguards. But all of it was funded by the very women he was targeting. One victim, Cecilie Fjellhoy, ended up taking out nine loans totaling nearly $250,000. Another, Pernilla Sjoholm, lost her life savings and even more trying to legally fight back.
Both women were left bankrupt, traumatized, and, at one point, suicidal. Cecilie ended up in psychiatric care and relied on antidepressants just to get by. Pernilla was plagued by fear, especially after receiving threats from Leviev himself following a media exposé. These weren’t just financial losses—they were full-on life upheavals.
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The turning point came when their stories went global through Netflix’s explosive documentary, The Tinder Swindler . Suddenly, millions of viewers knew Leviev’s face—and that notoriety helped put an end to his schemes, at least publicly. He was arrested in Greece in 2019 for using a fake passport and extradited to Israel, where he was sentenced to 15 months. But get this—he served only five months before being released for “good behavior.” And none of those charges were actually related to the Tinder scams.
Even now, while his victims are still repaying debts and rebuilding their lives, Leviev is living free in Israel. He’s reportedly dating a model and presenting himself as a real estate guru on social media. It’s wild. He’s even giving “business classes.” Meanwhile, Tinder has banned him, stating he’s no longer on the app under any known alias.
But Cecilie and Pernilla didn’t stay victims. They turned their pain into purpose. They now speak globally on online safety and romance fraud, and they’ve even co-written a book, Swindled Never After , aiming to help others spot red flags early on. Pernilla’s a mom now, and Cecilie is cautiously dating again—still hopeful, just more guarded.
In a way, the most satisfying revenge is that they’re thriving, while he’s stuck pretending to be someone he’s not. They’ve reclaimed their power, and honestly, they’ve become the faces of survival—and justice—in the digital dating age.
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