Victims of the ‘Tindler Swindler’ have set up a GoFundMe to compensate the money that they were conned out of by pretend playboy Shimon Hayut, following the release of the new Netflix documentary earlier this week. Watch Cecilie Fjellhøy’s statement about the fundraiser here:
The Tindler Swindler, which comes from the makers of Don't F**k with Cats, tells the shocking story of how the conman scammed women out of millions of pounds, having spent years travelling around the world on the run from authorities.
Now, Cecilie has joined other victims featured in the documentary, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte, to help recoup some of the vast sums of money they lost.
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In an Instagram video announcing the campaign, Fjellhøy 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 so far, 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.”
At the time of writing, the GoFundMe has raised more than £6,000 of the £600,000 goal.
A description reads: “You’re probably here because you’ve heard about our story, and we appreciate you taking the time to search and find this page.
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“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.
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“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 had been a Norwegian student living in London when she found herself in a whirlwind romance with Hayut, while Ayleen lent him £103,000 after meeting him on Tinder – later learning from a newspaper report while in Prague that he was a conman who ‘seduced and swindled young women for millions’.
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Stockholm-based Pernilla had travelled to various countries to visit the self-proclaimed ‘Prince of Diamonds’, and was eventually contacted by journalists from VG before reporting him to the police.
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.
Hayut was eventually caught for using a fake passport in Greece in 2019.
He was extradited to Israel and sentenced to 15 months in prison for theft, fraud, and forgery of documents - all charges from 2011, unrelated to the accusations made against him in the Netflix documentary.
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He was later released after five months on good behaviour.
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, The Tinder Swindler
Jess Hardiman