First victim of ‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev reveals how the fraudster left her languishing in a ‘cockroach infested’ Cypriot prison cell after conning her into using a stolen credit card
- Simon Leviev, 30, from Israel, conned women he met on Tinder out of millions
- He became infamous after a Netflix documentary revealed his victims’ stories
- Now Courtney Simmonds-Miller, 31, from Cambridge, says she is his first victim
- The fraudster duped her into using a stolen credit card, landing her in prison
A woman has revealed how she was became the first victim of the ‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev, and was left facing years in prison after he conned her into using a stolen credit card.
Courtney Simmonds-Miller, 31, originally from Cambridge, met the fraudster back in 2008, when she was 19 and living in Cyprus with her grandparents.
Shimon Heyada Hayut, 30, from Israel, who operated under several aliases, including Simon Leviev, fooled women he met on Tinder into thinking he was the son of a billionaire diamond merchant before scamming them out of an estimated £7.4 million.
He was exposed in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, released earlier this month, in which his victims shared their stories.
The convicted conman – who would pose as ‘Simon Leviev’, son of the billionaire Russian-Israeli diamond mogul, Lev Leviev – would shower women he met on Tinder with lavish trips and gifts, using money he had taken from other victims.
He would then ask for more funds under the guise of needing to protect his identity due to security concerns.
Courtney Simmonds-Miller has revealed how she was conned into committing credit card fraud by the ‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev,
Simon Leviev, who conned women out of an estimated £7.4 million, was exposed in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler
Courtney became friends with Leviev, then 20, when they worked together in a retail job.
Speaking to the Sun, she said she was ‘100 per cent under [Leviev’s] spell’, and felt like the fraudster was her ‘soulmate in friend form’.
It was not long before Leviev started lying to Courtney. After a trip home to Israel, he told her he was a ‘secret millionaire’ who only been working in Cyprus because his wealthy father wanted him to learn the value of money.
Courtney Simmonds-Miller says she is sick of trolls branding Leviev’s victims ‘gold diggers’, and has pointed out that he conned her without ‘all the immersive theatre and money’
But, he said, he was now set to receive his inheritance, and was planning to open a business. He asked Courtney to be his personal assistant.
After accepting the job, and its £2,500 monthly salary, one of her first tasks was to hire a BMW for Leviev – which she did in her own name, because he said he didn’t have an international driving license.
Leviev provided credit card details for the transaction.
However, it emerged the card had been stolen in Israel, and both Courtney and Leviev were arrested. After being strip searched, she spent three weeks in custody, describing the prison as ‘inhumane’.
‘The cell was disgusting, there were cockroaches everywhere. There were no doors on the showers or toilets and the loo itself was just a hole in the floor,’ she said.
Despite the pair having their passports confiscated, Leviev managed to flee the country – prompting police to tell Courtney she would face the punishment for his crimes.
‘It was horrific. He left me to take the fall for everything,’ she said.
Leviev often posts images flaunting his lavish lifestyle on Instagram, showing off private jets and luxury trips
Her grandmother paid a lump sum of cash to keep Courtney out of prison, with the family eventually paying more than £14,000 before she was acquitted after two years.
Courtney, who said she ‘feels sick’ when she thinks about Leviev’s crimes, found out he had conned more women after finding an article in a Norwegian newspaper, detailing how one of his victims – Cecilie Fjellhoy – was swindled out of £185,000.
Cecilie Fjellhøy, and fellow victims Ayleen Koeleman, and Pernilla Sjoholm have set up a GoFundMe profile in the hopes of raising £600,000 after receiving a flood of support from sharing their story in the Netflix documentary.
He has never been charged for scamming Cecilie, Ayleen or Pernilla, but was jailed in Israel for use of a fake passport in 2019 in Greece. He was released after five months on good behaviour.
Meanwhile, his victims have received a backlash for trying to raise money to rebuild their lives.
But Courtney said she hates to see the victims who’ve had their live ruined being branded gold diggers, saying: ‘I’m living proof that his spell doesn’t need all the immersive theatre and money to work.’
The fraudster, who posed as the son of a billionaire diamond merchant to con women he met on Tinder out of an estimated £7.4 million, now reportedly wants to ‘crack Hollywood’
Meanwhile, Leviev is continuing to make headlines, with the recent news that he is planning to use his newfound fame to crack Hollywood.
Celebrity site TMZ reported that sources close to the conman say he wants to write a book, host a dating podcast and has even pitched a controversial new TV show, which would see women competing for his love.
Helping him with his entertainment career will apparently be former pornographic-film actress Gina Rodriquez, the CEO of talent management company Gitoni.
With the help of his new manager, TMZ reports Hayut has pitched an idea for a dating show where women compete for his love, along with a podcast where he shares the dos and don’ts of dating.
Leviev has never been charged for scamming the women, but was jailed in Israel for use of a fake passport in 2019 in Greece. He was released after five months on good behaviour.
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