The Fake ABC Scam and the Global "Sapphire Network"

Online Safety
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An Australian Broadcasting Corporation investigation published in August 2026 exposed a sophisticated international fraud operation that used near-perfect clones of ABC News websites to lure victims into fake investment schemes. The money trail from these scams leads to a decentralised network of companies and call centres spanning multiple countries, with alleged ties to an Israeli businessman named Shefi Goldberg.

Shefi Goldberg
Shefi Goldberg378×302 46.3 KB

Photo: Shefi Goldberg (Right) Source: Immi-coin on X

How the scam worked

Victims were typically approached through social media ads or messaging apps like WhatsApp, which directed them to fake news articles on websites designed to look almost identical to the real ABC News site. These articles promoted supposed investment opportunities in oil, gold, cryptocurrencies or AI-assisted trading platforms, often claiming substantial returns.

Once hooked, victims were contacted by people posing as financial brokers or advisors, often claiming to be based in Switzerland or other reputable jurisdictions. They were guided to fraudulent trading platforms where they could see their money “growing” on a dashboard. In reality, no actual trading took place. The platforms were entirely fake, and the victims’ money was siphoned off immediately.

As victims tried to withdraw their funds, scammers deployed a well-worn playbook of excuses: accounts frozen, liquidity issues, mandatory fees, or claims that the victim had incurred massive trading debts. Some were pressured into taking out loans against their homes or businesses to pay down these invented debts. Eventually, the brokers would cut off contact, and the money was gone.

One Australian victim, referred to as Toby, lost more than $500,000 after being drawn in by a fake ABC News clone in early 2026. Another, Rodger, lost about $125,000 in 2024 and was left unable to afford medical bills or Christmas presents for his family.

The Sapphire Network

Investigators from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have dubbed this operation the “Sapphire Network”. It is believed to have been active since at least 2021 and operates out of central Tel Aviv, with call centres in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, North Macedonia and Israel.

The OCCRP estimates the network has defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of dollars through investment scams alone. Leaked internal documents reviewed by the ABC and OCCRP show more than 4,000 Australians targeted, and broader OCCRP reporting identifies about 26,000 victims across 33 countries who paid roughly $240 million to the network between January 2021 and December 2024.

The network ran at least 81 fake investment websites and used a complex web of shell companies to process and launder payments.

The money trail: Trigo XO and Shefi Goldberg

A key breakthrough in the ABC investigation came from tracing a small initial payment one victim made to open a fraudulent trading account. The payment, about $365, went to an Australian company called Trigo XO, registered in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak. Trigo XO presented itself as a seller of online courses, but its websites were broken, its phone went unanswered, and the “course” victims received was a generic 35-page PDF on leadership.

Trigo XO’s director told the ABC that the company’s real owner was based in Israel and arranged a call with Shefi Goldberg, a 43-year-old Israeli businessman. Goldberg insisted all questions should go to him and denied any fraudulent activity. He later claimed he had no ownership or control of Trigo XO, but the investigation uncovered multiple links between Goldberg and the scam network.

Goldberg is co-director of GoBe Marketing, a telemarketing firm with call centres in Israel, Cyprus, South Africa, Spain and the Philippines, primarily selling visa and immigration services. A South African offshoot, MSG Marketing, was found in a 2021 court case to have processed payments for an investment scam, misrepresenting them as immigration-related transactions.

The ABC also traced payments from two other Australian victims to USC Market Place, an Israeli company that lists a GoBe Marketing employee as its director. Those payments matched exactly with entries in the Sapphire Network’s internal spreadsheets, which logged contact details and transaction amounts for thousands of victims.

Responses and denials

Shefi Goldberg has consistently denied any involvement in fraud. In statements to the ABC and other outlets, he said he had no ownership or control of Trigo XO, was never involved in processing scam payments, and that his Cyprus company was used only for the provision of services, with no role in day-to-day management.

The ABC emphasised that it does not allege Trigo XO or its Australian associates actively defrauded investors through fake news or phone calls. Instead, the company appeared to be used as a money-laundering front to disguise scam payments as course sales.

What this means

The exposure of the Sapphire Network illustrates how organised fraud groups use credible-looking news clones, fake brokers and layered corporate structures to steal hundreds of millions from victims worldwide. For everyday users, the red flags include unsolicited investment pitches, pressure to pay fees to release funds, and news stories that look slightly off or direct you to unknown trading platforms.

For regulators, the case underscores the challenge of chasing money through a decentralised network of companies across multiple jurisdictions, many of them in countries with weak enforcement or complex corporate secrecy.

References

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Now that is some exceptional journalism from ABC. Well done for exposing the scam and keeping the rest of us safe.