The scam that crossed continents: Thousands of victims and the Israeli arm exposed

An ABC investigation has uncovered an international investment fraud network operating from Israel that scammed over 4,000 Australians out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Victims included a man who lost $125,000 after being unable to withdraw his money. The scheme involved a small initial payment disguised as a leadership course, with funds transferred to companies linked to Israeli Shafi Goldberg, who denies involvement.

An ABC investigation has uncovered an international investment fraud network operating from Israel that scammed over 4,000 Australians out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The scheme began with a small initial payment of about $365 disguised as an online leadership course, transferred to a company called Trigo XO registered in Australia. The company's accountant cut ties and reported it to the Australian financial intelligence agency. The Israeli connection is Shafi Goldberg, who denies involvement but internal documents revealed victim payments were transferred to the Israeli company USC Market Place, where a director is an employee of GoBe Marketing, where Goldberg serves as co-director. Leaked videos showed the financial infrastructure of the fraud, based on a clearing service called Smart Pay, whose parent company, Allegiant Holdings Ltd registered in Cyprus, is solely owned by Goldberg. In response, Goldberg stated he is not involved in day-to-day management. Victims like Roger and Toby were left with heavy losses, with Roger giving up hope of getting his money back and Toby losing half a million dollars.