An Instagram account claiming to be the ‘Tinder Swindler’ has branded three of his victims ‘manipulators’ after they launched a fundraising page in a bid to cover the huge debts they’ve been left with.
Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman, and Pernilla Sjoholm set up the GoFundMe profile in the hopes of raising £600,000 after receiving a flood of support from sharing their story in the Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swindler.
But an Instagram story from an account claiming to belong to Shimon Hayut – the serial fraudster who posed as the son of a billionaire Israeli diamond merchant to swindle women he dated out of thousands of pounds – has slammed the women’s campaign.
‘Go ahead and help real associations… not these manipulators. This is what is called MARKETING,’ the 30-year-old wrote on a since deleted social media profile on Wednesday, according to The Independent.
The convicted conman – who would pose as ‘Simon Leviev’, son of the billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev – would use the money he acquired from other victims to impress single women he met on Tinder with an expensive lifestyle and lavish gifts.
Hayut scammed Cecilie, Ayleen and Pernilla by claiming that he needed to borrow money because using his own funds could lead him to be traced by his enemies.
Cecilie Fjellhøy (pictured left), Ayleen Koeleman, and Pernilla Sjoholm set up the GoFundMe profile in the hopes of raising £600,000 after receiving a flood of support from sharing their story in the Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swindler (pictured right)
But an Instagram story (pictured) from an account claiming to belong to Shimon Hayut – the serial fraudster who posed as the son of a billionaire Israeli diamond merchant to swindle women he dated out of thousands of pounds – has slammed the women’s campaign
It is unclear how many other people fell for the scam but it is estimated that he conned his victims out of £7.4 million.
He has never been charged for scamming Cecilie, Ayleen or Pernilla, but was jailed in Israel for use of a fake passport in 2019 in Greece. He was released after five months on good behaviour.
Days after The Tinder Swindler was released, he reportedly issued a statement on his Instagram page.
‘I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself,’ he apparently wrote before deleting that account.
Cecilie, Ayleen and Pernilla raised more than £18,000 within 24 hours of launching their fundraising page and said that they are grateful for any help after being defrauded large sums.
The trio’s fundraiser read: ‘You’re probably here because you’ve heard about our story, and we appreciate you taking the time to search and find this page.
The convicted conman (pictured) – who would pose as ‘Simon Leviev’, son of the billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev – would use the money he acquired from other victims to impress single women he met on Tinder with an expensive lifestyle and lavish gifts
‘The past few days have been a whirlwind, and we three (Ayleen, Pernilla and Cecilie) have been completely shocked and floored by the flood of compassion and support from everyone. The sheer love is more than we ever expected, and we appreciate you all so much.
‘After careful consideration, and many chats, we have decided to start this GoFundMe fundraiser. So many people reached out to us asking if we had one, and it hadn’t occurred to us to make one prior to this.
‘However, we’ve spotted plenty of fakes, which makes us uneasy. We don’t want more people getting defrauded.
‘We realise there are a thousand other worthy causes to donate to, and remain forever grateful if you choose to donate to this one. All we want are our lives back.’
Cecilie was a 29-year-old Norwegian graduate student living in London, when Hayut conned her out of more than £200,000.
Hayut has never been charged for scamming Cecilie, Ayleen or Pernilla, who are now hoping to raise £600,000 using GoFundMe (pictured)
The trio of victims were conned into giving Shimon Heyada Hayut money, while believing that he was hiding from his enemies. Pictured: Ayleen Koeleman
She believed that she had finally met her Prince Charming, when she matched on Tinder with ‘Simon Leviev’ in 2019.
He claimed to be a billionaire playboy and even took her on a trip using his private plane during their first date.
Hayut has never been charged for scamming Cecilie, Ayleen or Pernilla, but was jailed in Israel for use of a fake passport in 2019. He was released after five months on good behaviour.
The serial fraudster, who is no longer on Tinder, had 200,000 Instagram followers before deciding to close his account following backlash from the Netflix documentary.
Hayut (pictured) has deleted his Instagram and is no longer on Tinder, following backlash from the Netflix documentary
A stream of initial responses to the Netflix documentary were supportive of raising funds for the victims.
One person wrote: ‘Does Ayleen have a GoFundMe for that debt because I will happily add my coins for this MVP #TinderSwindler’
Another said: ‘Someone should set up a GoFundMe for the Tinder Swindler women who are still paying off their debts while the Swindler is back on Tinder!’
However, others have been sceptical of fundraising, with one commenting: ‘The GoFundMe from the victims of #TinderSwindler doesn’t sit right with me? Don’t they get paid for all the appearances they do?’
‘Sorry how much debt is there please, did they all give £200k or? All that touring and Netflix etc didn’t put a dent in the debt again all?,’ another wrote.
A third added: ‘No way I’d donate to this. I wouldn’t trust them with any sort of money after watching that.’
Netflix viewers were quick to express their sympathy for Hayut’s victims and suggested raising funds to pay off their debts
Some Twitter users admitted they will not be contributing to the GoFundMe page, while arguing the victims should be cashing in on their Netflix fame
