Cecilie Fjellhøy’s life was turned upside down when she fell for notorious romance scammer Simon Leviev, later dubbed the Tinder Swindler. Her compelling story, among others, helped form the basis of the famous 2022 Netflix documentary, which became one of the platform’s most watched shows of all-time.
Cecilie has turned this painful experience into an impactful career in fighting romance scammers. She founded LoveSaid, a non-profit organisation that supports victims of romance scams, and also operates as a scam defence advisor and UX designer at Charm Security. As a regular keynote at international events, and host of Love Con Revenge - a Netflix show that tracks down and confronts romance scammers - she’s become a standout advocate for victims of fraud.
In this episode of LFG!, Cecilie shares her story and offers candid opinions on how banks and fintechs can do more to prevent fraud and protect victims. On a technical level, Cecilie leans into her career background as a UX designer to explain how user journeys and payments can be made safer. On a personal level, she shares her own experience of loss, victim shaming, and grievance, and discusses how online platforms and financial services can be better designed to respond to peoples’ human impulses and emotional needs.
Cecilie’s story is powerful, and there’s something here for anyone in fintech.
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Episode Description
Cecilie Fjellhøy has one of the most extraordinary stories in fintech. In 2019 she went public as a victim of one of the world's most high-profile romance scams, and instead of retreating she turned that experience into a career dedicated to making the financial system safer and more human.
Now an international keynote speaker, Netflix host, co-founder of Love Said, and scam defence advisor at Charm Security, Cecilie joins Ian Horne on LFG to talk about what fraud actually does to people, and why the industry still isn't doing enough about it.
She makes a compelling case that fraud prevention has a UX problem. Banks and platforms have spent years removing friction in the name of customer experience, and fraudsters have walked straight through the gaps. Her argument: good friction isn't a failure of design, it's an act of care.
The conversation gets into the social engineering playbook scammers use, why intervening at the point of transaction is often already too late, and why victim blaming remains one of the biggest barriers to justice. Cecilie also opens up about what it felt like to watch herself in the Tinder Swindler, and why hosting Love Con Revenge on Netflix was her way of turning pain into power.
This one goes well beyond the numbers. If you work in payments, banking, or fraud prevention, it's essential listening.
Topics covered:
· How romance scams work and who they target
· The UX of fraud prevention
· Why transaction-point intervention often fails
· Victim blaming and its consequences
· The Tinder Swindler and going public
· Hosting Love Con Revenge on Netflix
· What institutions and social media platforms need to do differently
· The human cost behind the fraud statistics
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