‘The Tinder Swindler’ victim comments on the reaction to the Netflix film
(Credit: Netflix)

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‘The Tinder Swindler’ victim comments on the reaction to the Netflix film

Ever since its release, Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary directed by Felicity Morris, The Tinder Swindler has taken the world by storm with the shocking story of Simon Hayut’s cunning and manipulative Ponzi scheme. 

Of Israeli descent, Hayut assumed the fake identity of a rich diamond heir, naming himself Simon Leviev to lure unsuspecting women into believing him and displaying his apparent opulence in this vicious Ponzi scheme. He later scammed these women of hundreds and thousands of dollars, pushing them into knee-deep debts. 

Revolving mainly around the two victims, Cecilie Fjellhøy and Pernilla Sjöholm, the Netflix documentary tells the shocking and harrowing predicament of the women who become victims in a 21st-century horror story and in a world where online dating takes precedence. 

Following the release of the documentary and the overwhelming reaction, the women have expressed their hope to see their perpetrators behind the bars. Although Hayut was arrested, he was released five months later and is now a free man, much to the chagrin and horror of the women. 

Fjellhøy spoke about how she wants to see him behind the prison bars but that seems highly unlikely given how ignorant the police and the justice system have been to the case. Talking about how she, like the rest of the world, is still in the dark how he got away with it, she said, “I’m desperate to see Simon behind bars but any day in court would be about protecting him from other people – it wouldn’t be about giving me the chance to say something to him.”

She also voiced out about how the tweets by celebrities like Cardi B and French Montana, both of whom claimed to have met Hayut, left her “bothered”. She spoke up about how they could use their influence to bring the “women in pain” some kind of justice. 

She also recalled the irony of the situation where people do the same when they meet her. She said, “They smile and want a picture like this was a performance – not a traumatic experience.”

She has expressed her concerns regarding whether she will be able to move past the trauma and has also expressed her displeasure at him getting all the negative attention with recent reports of Hayut making his way into Hollywood hitting the news. 

We can only hope for the women to get justice and Hayut to get a taste of his own medicine. 

Watch The Tinder Swindler on Netflix now.