The Angel-Faced Serial Scammer: How Margot Sitbon Duped Dozens Across Israel
Margot Gessie Sitbon, a serial fraudster from Netanya, duped dozens of Israelis using Facebook Marketplace, fake transfers, and her children as emotional shields.
A woman with angelic features, victims called her time and time again. A French accent, two small children trailing behind her, and heartbreaking stories about a difficult and complex life. This is precisely the image crafted by Margot Gessie Sitbon from Netanya, and it is exactly what caused dozens of good people—from shop owners and private sellers to lonely elderly individuals—to trust her out of a sincere and genuine desire to help, only to fall into her trap in a single moment.
Sitbon's method was simple yet brilliantly sophisticated: she located her victims through the Facebook Marketplace sales platform. From there, the path to their hearts was short. An innocent message, an urgent request to collect the item the very same evening (usually late at night or on weekends), a brief meeting where she projected severe financial distress, and finally—the purchase of gold jewelry, luxury phones, fashion items, and even vehicles.
The Illusion of Payment and Systematic Failures
Yet in exchange for the valuable goods, Sitbon never paid in cash. She paid using stolen checks, or presented a forged screenshot of a bank transfer or gold transfer. The money, of course, never reached the sellers' bank accounts. By the time the victims realized the magnitude of the fraud and were left speechless—she had already vanished without a trace.
The most outrageous part of this story lies not only in the scammer's actions, but in the systemic handling that allowed her to continue unchecked. Time and again, when victims turned to police stations, files were quickly closed under the pretext of an unknown offender or referred to civil proceedings. And when she was finally arrested, the courts repeatedly released her to house arrest, which she easily violated, while the enforcement authorities struggled greatly to locate her. For three whole years, complaints accumulated, and Margot continued to move from one victim to another—until a dramatic encounter with a television investigative team ended in her arrest and the eventual filing of a severe indictment.
Exploiting Compassion and Children as Shields
Beneath the polished facade of Margot Gessie Sitbon—a traditional woman who immigrated to Israel from France and wore a headscarf—hid, according to the indictment, a seductive and cold-blooded serial fraudster who operated systematically across the country. One of the victims is Einav, who posted earrings for sale on Marketplace and never imagined this innocent inquiry would be the opening shot of a deceptive journey.
One evening I received a chat inquiry on Marketplace about the earrings I posted, asking if the item was available. I told her I was from Afula. She said she was in Haifa and did not want delivery, she only wanted to come and pick it up today, Einav recounts.
The psychological pressure she exerted, often utilizing her own children to disarm suspicion, left a trail of financial and emotional devastation across Israel. Despite subsequent arrests and mounting complaints, the case highlights profound gaps in law enforcement's handling of everyday fraud.
