- Netflix’s documentary “The Tinder Swindler” is about a man accused of scamming women into debt.
- The women tracked down the Tinder user who they say tricked them out of millions of dollars.
- Now, the three women set up a GoFundMe to raise over $800,000 for their debts.
Three women who claim the “Tinder Swindler” tricked them out of millions of dollars have started a GoFundMe for their debts.
“The Tinder Swindler” follows Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman, and Pernilla Sjoholm as they set out to track down Shimon Hayut (who went by the alias Simon Leviev). The women say they were “scammed” into lending Hayut money, which led to several of them winding up in debt.
Now, three of the women have set up a fundraising page to raise a goal of £600,000, or about $812,700. So far the trio has raised over $50,000.
The team fundraiser statement 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.”
They continue: “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.”
Hayut was arrested and convicted in Finland in 2015 on charges of defrauding three women, serving two years in prison. In December of 2019, he was alsosentenced to 15 months in prison in Israelafter twice fleeing the country to avoid charges of theft, forgery, and fraud in 2011 and again in 2017. Hayut served five of the 15 months before being released in May of 2020.
At the time of writing, Hayut is not currently facing any charges related to allegations from Fjellhøy, Koeleman, and Sjoholm, the three women behind the GoFundMe page.
After the documentary premiered on Wednesday, Hayut thanked his followers for their support, adding: “I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself.”
Hayut has since pushed back against the claims in the true-crime documentary, saying in since-deleted Instagram stories that he is innocent and would’ve been arrested if he was guilty.
“The Tinder Swindler” is available now on
Netflix
.