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 ...Show more
The Child Cancer Scam: 1. The video
Seven-year-old Khalil from the Philippines has cancer. His family hope making a campaign video might save him, because they desperately need help to pay for his treatment. But the shoot is demanding, exhausting. Khalil even has onions put in front of his eyes to make him cry. For ...Show more
The Child Cancer Scam: 2. The director
As videos of other sick children pleading for money are found online, we find out more about the man behind the camera. And it becomes clear that there’s a complex network of organisations registered in Israel, the United States and Canada, exploiting families who just need help. ...Show more
The Child Cancer Scam: 3. The recruiters
A woman called Isabel pushes a little girl to send videos from her hospital bed. It’s part of a recruitment drive for sick children in Colombia to take part in campaigns. What does she know about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that appear to have been raised? It’s money the ...Show more
The Child Cancer Scam: 4. The contract
A mother from Ukraine signs a contract, hoping that it will help her young daughter. Viktoriia has a brain tumour: her story is plastered all over social media despite her family’s request that the video they made isn’t shared. Olena says she wasn’t given time to read the contrac ...Show more