Tinder Swindler victim 'joining Celebs Go Dating' to find lasting romance
A source said she wants to 'learn to trust again'
She might’ve been unlucky in love the last time, but the Tinder Swindler’s victim is determined to find a meaningful relationship by joining the next series of Celebs Go Dating.
Although the news is yet to be verified, a telly insider has suggested that Cecilie Fjellhøy - who appeared in the Netflix documentary about the infamous Tinder scammer - is set to star in the E4 dating show.
Cecilie had been a student living in London when she found herself in a whirlwind romance with Simon Leviev, who earned the nickname Tinder Swindler due to the fact that he often found his victims on the dating app.
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The 33-year-old revealed in the documentary that Leviev love bombed her and made her believe that he was a successful businessman.
But as the relationship progressed, he convinced Cecilie to take out huge credit card loans to lend him money with the promise of paying it back, eventually leaving her in £200,000 worth of debt.
Speaking to The Sun, the source suggested that the Norwegian tech designer wants to join the reality TV show to build her confidence and ‘learn to trust again’.
They told the outlet: “Cecilie has joined the Celebs Go Dating line up and will be heading into the agency this month.
“She had a terrible time with Simon and hopes appearing on the show will give her a confidence boost. Cecilie wants a decent man who won’t take her for a ride.
“As well as meeting someone new, she thinks the show will be part of a healing process for her as she learns to trust again.”
Cecilie was one of three Tinder Swindler victims who were interviewed for the Netflix film, joining Ayleen Charlotte and Pernilla Sjöholm who were similarly scammed by Leviev - real name Shimon Hayut.
The fraudster used the money he cheated from countless women to fund his extravagant lifestyle and convince other victims to ‘lend’ him cash.
Hayut spent two years in a Finnish prison for defrauding several women and after his 2017 release he went back to Israel before fleeing the country for Europe so he couldn't be arrested.
He was eventually caught for using a fake passport in Greece in 2019, and was extradited to Israel and sentenced to 15 months in prison for theft, fraud, and forgery of documents.
All of these charges were from 2011, unrelated to the accusations made against him in the Netflix documentary.
The con artist was released after five months on good behaviour, and is now active on social media, although he hasn’t posted on his Instagram page since March.
Following the reaction to the documentary online, all three women set up a GoFundMe page to help compensate the money that they were conned out of.
In an Instagram video announcing the campaign, Cecilie told followers: “So, the girls today - Pernilla, Ayleen and myself - have decided after careful consideration to open up a GoFundMe, an official one, where we are trying to get some funds for all of us.”
She also thanked everyone for all of their support, adding: “We know that there’s a lot of other things people might want to help others with, but if you want to support us, thank you so much.”
The page has since closed, raising £183,289 from 9,000 contributors.
Topics: Celebs Go Dating, TV And Film, Channel 4, Tinder, Netflix, Money
Daisy Phillipson