Acts of Kindness
Woman Scammed Out Of 200K From Her Tinder Boyfriend
He says it was just a loan that went south.
Ryan Aliapoulios
05.15.19

Although it can certainly help people connect with others, Tinder has been known to produce some pretty incredible stories.

On the one hand, it can help you connect with romantic partners and may sometimes even lead to you marrying the love of your life. More often than not, it’s just a way to have a few flings with people you might be interested. On some rare occasions, though, some not so good things can come out of it.

This story, unfortunately, is one of those times.

twitter.com/ceciliefjellhoy
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twitter.com/ceciliefjellhoy

It all started in Norway with a 29-year-old woman named Cecilie Fjellhoy.

Fjellhoy was a Master’s student living in London who went on a date with a man called Simon Leviev. By their first date, she was already deeply infatuated with the man—he took her on a private plane ride to Bulgaria on their first date, after all.

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According to Fjellhoy, the man she was dating said that he was a millionaire from Israel and was ready to get serious with her.

Needless to say, Fjellhoy was excited to tell all of her friends about this incredible bachelor she’d met.

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Unfortunately, Leviev had not been honest with Fjellhoy—at all.

As it turns out, Leviev was actually born as Shimon Hyuat, and had made his living as a master criminal and con artist. He had been in a Finnish prison for three years for stealing money from women to fund his expensive lifestyle. When it all started, Leviev showed Fjellhoy all kinds of lavish and exciting perks. At the beginning of everything, everything seemed very innocent and romantic.

Within a month, they were relatively serious.

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When they met, Leviev told Fjellhoy that he was a diamond dealer who called himself “The Prince of Diamonds.”

Because of this, they had to date long distance and Leviev was always jet-setting around the world. He told Fjellhoy that his job was somewhat dangerous, and that people were always on the lookout for him.

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To continue his con, he even sent Fjellhoy fake video of him and his bodyguard in the hospital together after being allegedly attacked. Because these so-called dangerous men were discovering his identity, he told her, he needed a way to buy things and to charge things anonymously.

To do that, Leviev asked Fjellhoy if she could extend her line of credit to him for various purposes—and she agreed.

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Although Leviev promised to pay Fjellhoy back, he kept charging and charging on her cards and the money never came.

Eventually, Fjellhoy was approached by several people from American Express and explained that she’d been conned. As it turns out, he’d been doing this to many other women—and it was the same scheme he’d been running to end up in prison in the first place. After finding this all out, Fjellhoy had to be checked into a psychiatric hospital to stabilize because it had been so shocking and upsetting.

Still, Leviev maintained his innocence and has seemingly not yet been caught.

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Because the story was picked up by ABC Nightline, there’s now been plenty of exposure and debate about these events.

In response to the journalists at ABC asking Leviev to comment, he sent back this reply:

“There is nothing here, just a loan between friends that went south . . . She agreed to loan me money and then she disappeared, not answering phones or emails or letters . . . before we were able to pay her back . . . they used me for my life and got expensive gifts and everything, in other words, gold diggers. When I ask help they agreed to help and they know that I have some problems, I didn’t run from no one. It’s all fake news and lies.”

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Regardless, Fjellhoy is suffering very real consequences as a result of these events.

For her part, she’s now living in London and is trying to rebuild her life. Above all, this story should serve as a warning to anyone who meets someone they feel is too good to be true. Meeting the right person to be with can seem impossible at times, and so when someone appears to have incredible qualities we want to buy in. Still, Fjellhoy learned the hard way to be more careful in these kind of circumstances.

Be careful out there when you’re online dating people!

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