LOVED & LOST
I was conned out of £200k by ‘Tinder swindler’ who called himself ‘King of Diamonds’ – but I refuse to give up on love
A SINGLETON who claims she was swindled on Tinder by a fraudster 'son of a diamond merchant' has declared she will not give up on love.
Cecilie Fjellhoy thought she matched with prince charming when he flew her on a private jet from London to Bulgaria on their first date.
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The Norwegian graduate was swept off her feet by Shimon Hayut who claimed his dad was Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, known as 'The King of Diamonds'.
But Cecilie says the fairytale romance turned sour and she was left in £200,000 after lending him money.
Tindler swindler Hayut showered women he met on the dating app with lavish trips and gifts with cash he had taken from other victims.
He would then ask for more funds, falsely claiming he was Lev Leviev's son, and therefore needed to protect his identity due to security concerns.
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The convicted conman served three years in Finnish prison in 2019 after defrauding several women to fund a lifestyle of private jets, fast cars and luxury hotels.
Now Cecilie, who says she was conned by Hayut when she was 29, declared she will continue her search for love.
She has shared their story in The Tinder Swindler, a new Netflix true crime documentary.
Cecilie told ITV's Lorraine Kelly: I didn't want him to take that part of me, that truly believes in love and I'm still trying but it's been painful.
"The thing is that they are very smart about it.
"He doesn't ask for money the first time, it's more security of the name.
"I know it's the same thing but when you're in it, he's asking: 'I can't use my cards, like they're going to track my name, can I use your card?'.
Cecilie is now bankrupt in Britain and has loans mostly in Norway and says Hayut conned her of £200,000.
Norway’s Verdens Gang newspaper reported Hayut met his victims on Tinder and used a Ponzi scheme to con them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He would treat women with lavish trips and gifts using money he had taken from other women.
After he gained their trust, Hayut then asked for money claiming he was under threat from working in the diamond business.
Hayut first asked Cecilie to take credit out for him just four weeks into their relationship, claiming it was a security measure.
The conman promised to pay her back but her balance went up and up.
He then spent the money on plane tickets, hotels and dinners that were booked under her name to throw off suspicious 'enemies'.
Cecilie said she filled out documents for an American Express platinum card on his instructions and he told her to file an income of £200,000.
She claims he assured her no one was going to check it and took out huge loans for the card - with Hayut maxing out the limit.
TINDER SWINDLER
Cecilie told Norwegian news site Verdens Gang that she took the handsome young Israeli at his word.
Hayut spent two million Norwegian krone ($224,220) in just 54 days and was racking up bills on paying for his two assistants, his bodyguard and flights across the world.
Her money was being spent on Louboutins in Bangkok, on Gucci in Barcelona, at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin and the Conservatory in Amsterdam.
Cecilie told ABC's Nightline in 2019: "One of the main reasons why he needed it was protection…he needed my name as a cover, he said.
"I know it sounds crazy...[but] why would he have this giant guy with him if he didn't need the protection?"
She added: "We kind of knew it might come, but to be called a gold-digger for giving out money, like we said, we must be the worst gold-diggers in history.
"I think what happened was so extraordinary and it was such a weird and movie like what it was, and I didn't want to put that on other men, it's not other men's fault what he did to me.
"And he's taken so much from us.
"I had to be put into a hospital psychiatric ward.
"Because of suicidal thoughts because I thought my life was over, like I didn't see a way out. You've lost your boyfriend but he didn't just dump you, he never existed, he was never your boyfriend."
Hayut was arrested and imprisoned in December 2019 at Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, according to The Times Of Israel.
He was released the following May, after serving five months of his 15-month sentence.
Cecilie appears in the Netflix documentary alongside Pernilla Sjoholm and other victims.
Pernilla said: "He's very smart in what he's doing, especially he knows how to play his character, depending on who's he with, he adapts his personality, and adapts his entire persona.
"I sort of think it's not the worst part that he did, the money, the money really affects you but it's also about what it does psychologically to you, and breaks you down."
Pernilla said that she shared the story in the hope of taking away the victim blaming.
She added: "We really want to take that away, you should accuse the criminal and not the victim."
A Finnish mum, identified by the initial, 'D', said Hayut had conned her out of 45,000 euros (£38,000).
She said: "I’m a single mom to a daughter and I gave him all the savings I had.
"It’s a disgrace that they released him from prison. I hope he gets the coronavirus. I hope he dies. That’s better, so he won’t hurt other women.
"He’s a bad person, and I haven’t been able to rebuild my life because of him to this day.
"Myself and some other women filed lawsuits against him with the European Court of Justice and submitted complaints against him with Interpol."
Hayut was arrested in the summer of 2019 in Greece in a joint operation between Interpol and Israel Police, according to The Times Of Israel.
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During the sentencing hearing, the conman told the court he was 'sorry about everything' and promised to 'pay my debt to society'.
He was also ordered to pay his victims $43,289 and to pay a fine of $5,771 under the terms of a plea deal.
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