The Child Cancer Scam
Donations pour in for kids with cancer but families never see the money. BBC Eye investigates how organisations raised millions of dollars while children fought for their lives.
Your child is critically ill with cancer. It’s the worst news you can get. But to make the situation even more awful, you struggle to afford the care they need. So when someone tells you a foreign sponsor can help raise the money, you’ll do anything.
You make a video: your child begs for help from strangers online. But it comes to nothing. You wait and wait for the cash that was donated. It never comes, and all the while your child is fighting for their life.
In this World of Secrets podcast from the BBC World Service, BBC Eye uncovers the shocking truth.
At least 9 critically ill children across the world, from the Philippines to Ukraine to Colombia, didn’t receive the money raised in their names, totalling millions of dollars. Some of them have since died even though their campaigns continue to attract donations.
We expose the shape-shifting organisations behind the cancer kids’ campaigns, run from North America and Israel. And with the help of the parents wanting answers, we confront the people behind it.
Please note, the show image is being used for illustrative purposes only and the person depicted in it is a model.
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