Investigation in Australia: Fraud network from Tel Aviv raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from citizens

An Australian company that presented itself as a seller of online courses actually served as a front for money laundering for an international investment fraud network originating in Tel Aviv, according to an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The network, known as "Sapphire Network", is estimated to have been active since 2021 and lured more than 4,000 Australians through fake news articles, including some from the ABC, and false promises of AI-based trading. According to researchers from the OCCRP, the network raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from its victims and operated from service centers in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Macedonia, and Israel.

Two Australian victims, referred to in the ABC report as Rodger and Toby, described how they were transferred to fake trading platforms through impostors who presented themselves as professional brokers, and together lost close to 625 thousand dollars. Rodger, who was hospitalized and waiting for surgery when he tried to recover his money, was even forced to ask for a loan to fund medical equipment. Toby, who was directed to a fake site that precisely mimicked the design of the ABC site, was convinced to transfer more than half a million dollars after being shown a trading board that supposedly showed his money growing, while in reality no real transaction was performed.

The second thread that led the researchers began with a relatively small payment, about 350 dollars, paid as a registration fee to the fake trading platform — a common tactic designed to bind the victim to the process at an early stage. The money was directed to a company called Trigo XO, registered in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak, and presenting itself as a seller of business leadership courses. In an ABC check, it turned out that the company's sites do not actually function: the phone published on the sites was not answered, and the payment processes collapsed again and again. Another victim who paid the company received in return a 35-page PDF file full of generic clichés about leadership.

The accountant of Trigo XO told the investigators that he had already filed a complaint with the Australian anti-money laundering authority AUSTRAC, after failing to verify the invoices that passed through the company. A spokesperson for the authority stated that it cannot comment on individual investigations. Following the ABC's inquiry, the accountant, the company's manager, and its sole shareholder severed their ties with it. In South Africa, they warned about the fraud as early as 2021. The manager of Trigo XO directed the investigators to the real controlling owner of the company, the Israeli Shefi Goldberg. In a phone conversation, Goldberg denied any connection to the fraud, and later stated that he has no affiliation with the company.

However, an examination of Goldberg's broad business dealings revealed additional ties to the network: he serves as a co-manager at GoBe Marketing, which operates service centers in Israel, Cyprus, South Africa, Spain, and the Philippines, and deals mainly in selling telephone immigration services to the USA and Canada. A South African branch of the company, MSG Marketing, was found according to a ruling in a South African court to be involved in clearing payments for investment fraud as early as 2021, and operated without a financial license; its bank flagged the payments as suspicious.

Two other Australian victims, Susan and Anna, paid small amounts to trading platforms named Finterex Capital and Ambit Capital, both of which are included in the warning list of the Australian MoneySmart authority. ABC journalists located their exact payment details in internal spreadsheets that leaked from the network, alongside the details of about 4,000 other Australian victims. Susan eventually received her money back after she disputed the charge with the bank. In a video recording leaked from within the organization, a call center employee is seen recording payments in a spreadsheet in front of a screen of a clearing system called Smart Pay, whose details are linked by other documentation directly to Goldberg. The clearing company, registered in Cyprus under the name Allegiant Holdings, is held according to registration documents entirely by Goldberg, contrary to his initial denial. Goldberg responded that the company "is used for providing services" and that he is "only registered" in it and is not involved in its day-to-day management.