An investigation by the BBC World Service’s award-winning BBC Eye team and World of Secrets podcast has revealed how, across the world, desperate parents searching for help are being deceived by a global network of scammers exploiting children with cancer. The documentary film, The Child Cancer Scam, and a new six-part season of the BBC’s global investigations podcast, World of Secrets, uncover the network of people and organisations behind the scam and expose how they misled the public and exploited vulnerable families.
In October 2023, a YouTube advert led reporter, Simi Jolaoso, to a fundraising campaign for a little girl. The campaign appeared to have raised more than half a million dollars. Soon, more videos emerged of children from different countries, different backgrounds, yet the campaigns all looked strikingly similar.
BBC Eye investigation used geolocation, social media, and facial-recognition software to identify 15 families whose children appeared in the videos. The investigation, which the BBC carried out with support from local journalists across the globe, focuses on nine families – including in Ukraine, Colombia, Mexico, and the Philippines. The families say that, other than the small amount given to them on the day of filming, they never received anything of the total of $4m (£2.9m) apparently raised in their children’s names as part of campaigns that appear to have been produced by the same scam network. The families often had no idea the campaigns featuring their children had even been published.
The BBC investigation shows how those behind the scam subjected the children to a distressing filming process in order to create emotional fundraising videos and solicit donations from unsuspecting donors. Some of the vulnerable children were encouraged to cry; one boy was brought to tears by having onions put under his eyes. The children were filmed begging for help to save their lives and even had their heads shaved – all to elicit donations.
The investigation leads to several organisations presenting themselves as charities that appear to be behind these campaigns. They are registered in Israel, Canada, and the US. One of the most active among those organisations is Chance Letikva (Chance for Hope). Campaigns set up by Chance Letikva for two children who since died – Khalil in the Philippines and a Mexican boy called Hector – still appear to be receiving donations.
The BBC investigation has identified a key figure in the network: Erez Hadari, an Israeli man living in Canada. Presented with the findings of the BBC investigation, he did not respond.
The BBC contacted Chance Letikva and other organisations in the investigation – Walls of Hope, Saint Raphael, Little Angels and Saint Teresa – inviting them to respond to the allegations made against them. None of them replied.
The Israeli Corporations Authority, which oversees the country’s non-profit organisations, told the BBC that if it has evidence that founders are using entities as “a cover for illegal activity”, then registration inside Israel may be denied and the founder could be barred from working in the sector.
The UK’s Charity Commission advises those who wish to donate to a campaign not to do so when feeling under pressure, but check charities are registered and contact the appropriate fundraising regulator if in doubt. Anyone who thinks that an appeal is not legitimate can report it to bodies such as “Stop! Think Fraud”.
The documentary The Child Cancer Scam is available in the UK on BBC iPlayer. The investigation is also available via BBC iPlayer as part of the BBC Two current-affairs programme, Global Eye, which presents forensic journalism from BBC Eye and features reports from the BBC World Service’s global teams.
International audiences can watch the documentary on the BBC World Service YouTube channel.
The first episode of the six-part season of the podcast World of Secrets, Season 10: The Child Cancer Scam is available on podcast platforms; two new episodes will be released weekly. For audiences in the UK, all six episodes are available on BBC Sounds. Listeners outside the UK can listen to episodes weekly on BBC.com, or to all six episodes if they subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. The series will air weekly on BBC World Service radio from Friday 19 December.
Read the story on the BBC News website – on bbc.co.uk in the UK; and internationally – on BBC.com, BBC Studios global digital news platform.
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