Victims of The Tinder Swindler, Shimon Hayut, have set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to pay off their debts.
Last week, Netflix released their true crime documentary on the fraudster, who conned millions from women he met on Tinder by posing as billionaire playboy Simon Leviev.
Shimon, who posed as the son of a Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, essentially ran a Ponzi scheme by wooing women he met on Tinder with lavish gifts and trips, which he paid for with money he’d stolen from previous women.
After dazzling each victim enough, ‘Simon’ would ask to borrow money from them because for security reasons he couldn’t use his own money, but promised to pay them back.
He would then start the cycle all over again with a different woman.
The Tinder Swindler documentary featured three of Shimon’s victims – Cecilie Fjellhoy, Ayleen Charlotte and Pernilla Sjoholm.
The women shared their extraordinary and often terrifying experiences with Shimon, and revealed how they eventually teamed up to get him arrested for his crimes, only for him to be released five months later.
To this day, all three women are still paying off the debts they racked up to loan money to ‘Simon’ – who they believed would pay them back.
The Tinder Swindler’s victims are now asking the public to help them by donating to their GoFundMe page.
A post on the page 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.”
“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,” they wrote.
“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.”
“Shimon Heyada Hayut (who came to us under the pseudonym and fake personality of “Simon Leviev”) and his team of professional con artists, have defrauded all three of us for large sums of money.:
“If you have the opportunity to help we are forever grateful, but knowing that you’ve even checked out this page in solidarity means the world to us,” the post added.
Goss.ie has partnered with leading fertility clinic Sims IVF to host and broadcast a special panel show focused on all things fertility.
After issuing a call out for questions on social media, we put our readers questions to experts from Sims IVF and busted some common myths and misconceptions about fertility.
Discussing everything from what to expect from an AMH test, to the process of freezing your eggs and so much more, we were also joined by influencers Holly Carpenter and Thalia Heffernan who candidly discussed their own fertility journeys, and the pressure women face to start a family at a young age.
Watch the full show below:
