Simon Leviev is believed to have amassed round $10million from his victims, most notably discovering his prey courting apps and turning into the topic of Netflix’s actually disturbing new documentary, The Tinder Swindler. However how precisely did he do it?
The function size movie, from the identical staff behind 2019’s hysterically alarming Fyre Pageant documentary, is a rare second in true crime. Following Simon as he fools round like a billionaire by shattering the lives of others, The Tinder Swindler truly consists of footage of the conman in motion – we fairly actually watch the horror unfold because it occurs.
Because it stands, it’s nearly unimaginable to estimate what number of have fallen for the swindler, however two ladies, Cecilie Fjellhø and Pernilla Sjoholm, have bravely made it their life mission to make sure he doesn’t swindle once more as a result of, unbelievably, regardless of police throughout at the very least seven international locations being absolutely conscious of Simon, he's nonetheless lurking across the web trying to find unsuspecting single ladies.
In January 2018, Simon whisked Cecilie away on his personal jet from London to Bulgaria, they checked right into a lavish resort, ordered all the pieces off the menu at one of many world’s costliest eating places, accompanied by his safety guard, his ex-girlfriend and their baby. This was their first date.
Naturally, the subsequent step was to Google him. Who is that this man? Cecilie quickly found Simon was son of ‘the king of diamonds’ Lev Leviev, there was photographs of them collectively on Instagram. No matter apprehension she felt quickly dissipated – Simon was legit and telling her he was in love.
The subsequent few weeks had been a whirlwind. Cecilie was flown to Amsterdam the place he informed her to search for an condominium for them to maneuver into – their first house collectively.
Nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy earlier than the real-life fairytale grew to become an unthinkable nightmare, when a panicked Simon despatched Cecilie an image of himself lined in blood, claiming his safety guard Peter had been stabbed. Simon was in hassle together with his ‘enemies’, his playing cards now not labored, he couldn’t entry his hundreds of thousands and wanted assist from Cecilie to lift funds by no matter means attainable, finally racking up $200,000 (£147,000) of debt as a result of so far as she was conscious his life was at risk.
Truly, whereas Cecilie was on the cellphone to American Specific extending her restrict, and taking out mortgage after mortgage in her title, Simon was swooning extra ladies, convincing them too to search out cash they merely don’t must fund his way of life of the wealthy and well-known.
When Simon went chilly, and his cheque to pay Cecilie again bounced, it instantly grew to become clear: Simon wasn’t the inheritor to a multi-million pound diamond empire and was exploiting Cecilie with a faux alias.
One other a type of ladies was Pernilla, with The Tinder Swindler lastly giving them the prospect to unfold the phrase and put his face on the most important streaming community on the planet as a result of, unbelievably, Simon is a free man regardless of being firmly on the radar of police forces throughout in at the very least seven international locations. Each ladies are nonetheless carrying unimaginable debt on their shoulders, going through court docket order after court docket order, whereas he at the moment lives debt free with none repercussions.
In 2019 he was briefly jailed, serving simply 5 months of a 15 month sentence. However that had nothing to do together with his swindling, he was finally put behind bars in Israel for utilizing a faux passport however launched early for good behaviour.
Since then Simon has been certain to protest his innocence as loudly as attainable, even placing up a billboard in Israel insisting he’s the sufferer of a worldwide smear marketing campaign. Sadly for Simon, Cecile and Pernilla gained’t cease till he's behind bars with Netflix combating their nook, and subsequently they’re about to amass hundreds of thousands of recent supporters.
We need to get our life again
‘We’re combating till the bitter finish,’ Pernilla tells us, turning to Cecile who seems over with an equal dedication throughout her face. ‘We need to get our life again.’
At one level in Tinder Swindler, Pernilla is seen cowering as Simon threatens her over the cellphone. ‘You’re going to pay,’ he says. And he means it.
That was over three years in the past, as we speak Pernilla doesn’t hesitate to reply after I ask if she’s nonetheless petrified of him.
‘I feel he’s extra petrified of us than we're of him as we speak,’ she says. ‘However at one level he put a value on my head. It was paid it was finished and it was so low cost as a result of it was value completely nothing.
‘I used to be scared from an absence of earnings from house. I didn’t go see my household, I used to be so scared.’
Basically, Simon’s foreign money is worry. Whereas the cash pays for his personal jets and bottles of £10,000 champagne, it’s the worry and disgrace he’s inflicted on his victims that has stored his operation going with out consequence.
‘Who desires to say that they bought swindled on the market too?’ asks Cecilie.
‘He has so many victims however they don’t even need to report him to the police as a result of they had been so petrified of all of the threats.’
‘It’s been our purpose inside the film to cease that,’ insists Pernilla.
‘Again within the day, folks used to sufferer disgrace ladies for getting raped saying they had been drunk and had a brief skirt on. It’s the identical in terms of fraud and, I’m going to be fully trustworthy with you, earlier than this occurred to me, I might have that angle too.
‘I feel it's some type of defence mechanism that we use and I’m not comfortable that this occurred to me however my mindset modified a lot.
‘That is how they work and function as a result of they know that individuals act this fashion, and the victims usually are not going to go round and inform folks, they’re not going to report it.’
Cecilie met with one other one in every of Simon’s victims, and mentioned she was ‘completely destroyed’.
‘I used to be like, “it's good to rise up, that is so unhealthy, it's good to rise up for individuals who can’t.”
‘We’ve been doing this for therefore many individuals and that’s why we’re nonetheless combating like as a result of he hasn’t paid his dues in any respect and it's horrible to see what he’s finished to folks. It’s not honest.’
Cecilie and Pernilla say that at the very least 15 to twenty extra ladies have come ahead as victims of Simon since they went public. Nevertheless it didn’t simply cease at ladies he discovered on Tinder.
They declare a UK firm was conned of £500,000 whereas eight medical college students in Germany had been additionally focused.
But nonetheless, Cecilie has needed to be declared bankrupt within the UK and has been dragged to court docket by 4 banks in her native nation of Norway. Subsequently, she will be able to now not return house if ever she wished to.
‘I used to be the one particular person to ever be placed on trial as a defendant,’ she says. Rolling her eyes, she quips: ‘That’s enjoyable when banks try this to fraud victims and I misplaced each of them.
‘Fortunately I used to be right here in London so I've the nation’s dividend however I wanted to make myself bankrupt right here.
‘I spoke to a debt collector this morning that referred to as me and wanting me to start out paying the loans and I’m attempting to say, “I’m bankrupt”, however they don’t need to go together with it.’
In flip, Cecilie’s debt retains piling up increasingly to the purpose it’s turn into unimaginable to repay.
Pernilla too is caught with extra authorized payments every month.
‘I misplaced all my financial savings, I nonetheless don’t know my house. I ended up in debt due collected flights and all the pieces. So I’m nonetheless combating and attempting to get my life again so as however both you simply lay down and quit or combat 5 to 10 instances tougher.
‘I don’t need my life to vary I simply need my life again because it was earlier than I met him. I need to be that comfortable particular person and I simply need to be that Pernilla once more. That's all the pieces I would like.’
Whereas Cecilie and Pernilla are nonetheless caught in an insufferable hell due to Simon, there may be at the very least one final result of their ordeal to vary their lives for the higher – discovering one another.
‘We at all times say that we want we'd have met otherwise,’ says Perniilla. ‘This sounds so goofy, however there’s a motive for all the pieces. Even by way of all of the unhealthy issues, there’s a motive that possibly somebody put this in our arms and possibly it’s as a result of we might deal with it. In any other case, we by no means would have matched, we'd by no means made buddies.’
Turnig to Cecilie, smiling, she says: ‘Think about all of the laughs we wouldn’t have had.’
‘The whole lot is simply higher along with her,’ Cecilie agrees. ‘We’re collectively now and it’s like, “sure!” We’re going to show this round, we’re going to do it but it surely wouldn’t have been attainable if we didn’t have one another by way of this.’
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