I was Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev’s first victim – he left me to rot in a cockroach-infested prison cell for his crimes
LANGUISHING in a cockroach-infested Cypriot prison cell facing seven years behind bars, Courtney Simmonds-Miller struggled to fathom how life had taken such a terrible turn.
Unbeknownst to her, she'd just become "Tinder Swindler" Simon Leviev's first victim.
Cambridge-born Courtney, then 19 and living in Cyprus with her grandparents, became close to the Israeli conman while they were both working in Limassol selling hair products at a shopping centre in 2008.
Leviev, then 20, was going by the name Shimon Hayut, and together they'd go drinking and dancing after work, with Courtney, now 31, acting as his wingman in clubs as he tried - and usually failed - to attract women.
"I was 100 per cent under his spell," she tells The Sun. "The closest thing I can think of, is when you first meet the love of your life and you would do anything for them.
"That's what Simon made friendship with him like. He was very attentive, constantly complimenting me. I thought he was my soulmate in friend form and wanted to help me improve my life.
"He constantly told me he loved me and that I was his best friend... so much so I became withdrawn from my friends and family."
Having initially made out he was skint, Leviev later claimed he was a secret millionaire during a phone call after flying home to Israel.
He said his dad had sent him to work in Cyprus in a low-paid job to learn the value of money, but he was now coming into his inheritance and wanted to open up a business on the island.
While taken aback, Courtney was thrilled for her friend - and didn't think twice about accepting an offer to be his personal assistant, on a salary of £2,500 a month.
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But just months later, Courtney was arrested by Cypriot police, strip-searched and interrogated after being accused of credit card fraud. The man behind it all, she later realised, was Leviev.
It's thought he's since conned women and businesses around the world out of more than £7million. Several of his victims told how he left them penniless in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler.
Courtney's first job as his PA was to hire him a posh BMW so he could travel to meetings in style.
Leviev asked her to hire it in her name because he didn’t have an international driving licence. He read out his credit card details over the phone while Courtney dealt with the salesman.
I spent three weeks in custody. The cell was disgusting, there were cockroaches everywhere. There were no doors on the showers or toilets and the loo itself was just a hole in the floor
Courtney Simmonds-Miller
She was also asked to attend business meetings at hotels to take notes, but regularly found they'd been cancelled when she turned up.
Several weeks later Courtney and Leviev were called back to the car dealership to sort paperwork, where it transpired the credit card had been stolen in Israel, and the pair were arrested.
Courtney recalls: “Initially I thought police were being racist because we weren't Cypriot. I spent three weeks in custody, despite it being a nonviolent crime.
"The cell was disgusting, there were cockroaches everywhere. There were no doors on the showers or toilets and the loo itself was just a hole in the floor.
"The showers were cold and didn't have a proper head, it was just a metal pipe. I was sharing with proper criminals in bunk beds.
"They strip-searched me. I tried to refuse but they were shoving me around saying I didn't have a choice.
"The whole place was inhumane."
Sick ploy
The British High Commission sorted a lawyer for Courtney, and her grandparents footed the bill.
Courtney's parents shelled out £2,000 for her release on bail, while Leviev secured £8,000 from a local rabbi.
The pair had their passports taken off them and had to report to the police station twice a week - but Leviev somehow managed to flee the country.
Courtney now realises the hire car and hotel meetings were a ploy to get her on CCTV, so that Leviev could shift blame onto her for his crimes.
She says: "Police came and interrogated me again. I was terrified but I had no idea where he'd gone.
"I was told by my lawyer that because Simon had skipped the country, all the charges would land on me instead - they'd give his years to me.
My grandmother was very upset. It was horrific. He left me to take the fall for everything
Courtney Simmonds-Miller
"While I was in custody, they drove me back to my grandma's house in handcuffs. I had to watch them rip my bedroom to pieces searching for anything that would prove I knew those credit cards had been stolen.
"My grandmother was very upset. It was horrific. He left me to take the fall for everything."
To keep Courtney out of jail, her gran handed the court the deed to her house and a lump sum of cash.
It was two years before she was finally acquitted - and the ordeal cost her family £14,200.
Ultimate betrayal
Leviev tried to keep Courtney on-side, calling her to proclaim his innocence, but she gradually realised she'd suffered "the ultimate betrayal".
"It makes me feel sick to think about it," she recalls. "He planned it all. This is how he does it.
"He ensures the woman does the crimes for him, he is careful not to incriminate himself. It becomes his victim's word against his, and that is hard to stand up in court."
It makes me feel sick to think about it. He planned it all
Courtney Simmonds-Miller
Almost a decade later, Courtney came across an article in a Norwegian newspaper exposing Leviev as a conman who had scammed women he lured on Tinder. One UK-based victim, Cecilie Fjellhoy, shelled out £185,000.
Courtney instantly recognised Leviev in the photos, which showed him posing with luxury cars, private jets, helicopters and glamorous women.
She says: “These girls have had their lives ruined. I'm sick to death of trolls saying there were gold diggers - I'm living proof that his spell doesn't need all the immersive theatre and money to work.
"He uses people's kindness and love to get what he wants."
Lasting impact
Even after all these years, Courtney still struggles to trust her own judgement.
She says: "It's the mental abuse that is the worst. You spend your life thinking you can't trust anybody.
"It's cruel. I only avoided prison by the skin of my teeth thanks to a good lawyer and being British."
Courtney believes Leviev - who is back on the prowl after just a brief stint in jail and denies being a fraudster - is a "narcissistic a**hat" who thinks the world "owes him".
It makes you rethink yourself as a person, it destroys your confidence, your faith in your own mind, and your own intelligence
Coutney Simmonds-Miller
She says: "He feels that he is entitled to everything. Ruining lives is just his way to get what he thinks he deserves.
"I reckon he actually believes his own lies, there is something wrong with him."
"I fear for the other lives he will ruin. What he does is terrifying and soul-destroying.
"It makes you rethink yourself as a person. It destroys your confidence, your faith in your own mind, and your own intelligence.
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"He did this to me a decade ago when he was 20. Imagine how good he is now with 10 years of practice."
The Tinder Swindler is on Netflix now. The Making of a Swindler podcast is also available.
