World Of Secrets - The Child Cancer Scam: 2. The director

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

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. Season 10 of World of Secrets, The Child Cancer Scam, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service. Please note, the image is being used for illustrative purposes only and the child depicted is a model.

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Argent's kids love this time of year, especially tonight, coronation night, when there's a royal costume parade. Khalil's brother and sisters took part in the Prince and Princess competition. That's when gifts and toys. are handed out to the children. They're wearing shiny royal outfits. But Khalil isn't dressed up. Algin is keeping him close.

He is now eight years old and getting weaker and sicker every day. I was afraid. Khalil was very vulnerable at the time and there were too many people around. He gets upset with his mother, telling her she's being over the top for not letting him join in. And when the time comes for the official competition photo, he slips off and joins it. It's the last photo taken of Khalil. A few nights later, Khalil wakes up feeling a tightness around his chest. Algin, knowing her son, rushes him to the hospital.

He's monitored overnight but discharged in the morning. Test results show he is stable, but he's vomiting a lot. And the next night, the same thing happens. That evening, we had to rush him back to the hospital. his chest started to tighten up again. Before we took him, he gave me a big hug and said to me, Ma, I love you so much. I was shocked because in my heart,

I knew those were his last words to me. And that was it? He started to have a seizure, and he slipped into a coma, and then he couldn't talk anymore. Khalil passed away on December 22nd, 2023. After he filmed Khalil's campaign videos, Erez kept in touch with Algin.

He asked for updates about Khalil's health. He was fully aware of Khalil's condition. But she says Erez never told her about the money people donated to help her son. According to the online page, $27,000 US dollars was raised in total. It was only a year later when I showed Aljan the campaign

that she found out. It makes me angry to see how many people tried to help us. I don't understand how they could do this to us. We did everything he asked us to do so that we could get the help that we needed. And he kept that from us. I trusted him a lot And that's what he did to me

And nearly two years after his death Khalil's campaign is still open for donations It makes me feel very sad That they're still making money using Khalil's name Even after he passed away For the peace of Khalil I want the fundraising to stop Could the money that was raised

Through the campaign Could that have made a difference for Khalil. Khalil could still be alive today. This is World of Secrets. Season 10. The Child Cancer Scam. A BBC World Service investigation.

I'm Simi Jillo Oshin. to the director. Who are the people actually making the films and coordinating? I'm not working on this investigation alone. There's a team of us, including Jack Goodman. That, I think, as you say, will come from speaking to more families. Jack does online investigations. And the first challenge we had was finding the families of the children in the videos.

You get a face, an emotional video and a first name. And that's it. There were no other detail. No location, no contact details, no full names. But by watching Khalil's videos, over and over, he found something. Hello, my name is Carlisle. So I looked really closely at the video, frame by frame. And then you get to a scene of some kids playing table tennis.

And in the background, If you pause a video and zoom in very closely, there's like an election poster and search the name of that person and it's connected to the mayor of Sabu in the Philippines. But from there, where did we go? We had Clil and Sabu. So we did a search using these keywords. Clil, Sabu, Cancer. Came across an article which has Khalil,

And it's an article by a local Filipino charity asking for money on his behalf. But this looks like a legitimate appeal. So we found him. And also a Facebook page for what seemed to be his mum. When I sent her a message on there, she replied. And I arranged to go out and meet her in the Philippines. We are in the public cemetery and then Kalil was buried there. We visit Kalil every Monday.

You come every Monday. I'm with Algin and her husband Jozan on their weekly visit to Kalil's grave. But today is special. It's the first anniversary of his death, so his cousins and aunts are here too. They're all praying for him. One of the photos on his grave is of him smiling, wearing that I love New York beanie. Algin places a banana, his favorite fruit, on his grave.

Candles are lit and giant yellow sunflowers are laid down. I brought him a flower. flower. His favorite color was yellow. That's why we brought yellow flowers. One time, Erie's visit here. Oh, he came. Because he wants to visit Kalil. When was that? This year. I think April. What did he do when he came? Just visit Kalil. Did he say anything? No. Only a prayer for him. When Erez came with Algin to her son's grave in April 2024, he must have known Khalil's campaign had raised tens of thousands of dollars

and was still taking donations. When Erez found out that Khalil had passed, he told me that he would help with the financial cost of the funeral. But he didn't give me anything. He came to the wake and he brought toys for the kids. He said he had grown to love Khalil. and that he would pray for him and his spirit. So she kept in touch with him, hoping that he would help in some way.

She says he visited numerous times. Algin has shared all the messages, photos, and voice notes between them from after Kalil died. Erez uses a Facebook profile called Eric Noahide to message her. He would message me quite a lot and he would visit me. at the house and bring food for the children. He'd also bring us random gifts. He gave me perfume and would bring me food from Israel. He didn't really tell me much about himself, apart from he was a busy man, busy looking

after his sick mother, busy with work in his hometown. He told me he had two kids and that he was separated from his wife. I was away for six months in the Philippines. I have family. I have kids. I have to see my work. I have to see what's going on. no money. I have to go back. I don't live in the Philippines. Take care of your flight. Get

this. Bye. He'd sent pictures of himself, where he lived and on his travels, on a flight. Sometimes he would video call me and tell me he was calling from his house or from a hotel. It was always from somewhere different. Errez is from Israel. He still has family there, but now he lives in Canada. Algin says he travels a lot. In one of the photos he sends, it looks like he's flying business class. He wasn't trying to hide his wealth. He made many, many promises.

Like, he said he'd buy us a car because he felt bad that we had to walk so far to get public transport. And he promised us that he'd help us start a business. Algin would message back, telling him about her kids, sharing her grief, talking about the family's financial problems, asking for help. Remember, at this time, she thought Khalil's campaign hadn't raised any money. Other times, she tries to call him. It's clear from their messages that they become close. Sweet heart, sweet heart, listen to me.

He can't call me. Because when you call me, I cannot answer. I don't have Wi-Fi all the time. so just send me a message and I'll call you don't call me randomly because you call me like at 4 in the morning 4 a.m. I'm a different time zone I saw that you send me some information but I cannot send you money I have only PayPal

not this G-cash okay and I have to wait to get paid at the end of the week the end of the month okay sweetheart I love you I miss you To me, our relationship was a friendship. It was something different for him. I would just write along with the messages that he sent me. Work, honey.

Yes, send me a message on your birthday. I will send you some money. I want you to buy a gift. He asked me to recruit other families that had children with illnesses like Khalil, but he didn't offer me any money for him. and he said he wanted me to convert to Judaism so that he could bring me and my kids to his country.

Erez often refers to Jewish holidays in his texts. Either Passover was coming up or the Sabbath was about to start and then he wouldn't be in contact for a few days. The Sabbath is supposed to be a holy day of rest. He doesn't want to desecrate it, he'll say to Algin. He's clearly active in the same. in the local Jewish community. Erez talked a lot about his faith to Algiers.

He was always praying. He told us about his Habad house in Cebu. He mentioned he had a community there. I didn't have a chance to visit the Habad house, but he would tell me that he was always busy managing the kitchen and cooking for the community. So you can find Habad houses all over the the world, their hubs for Hasidic or Orthodox Jews, and they offer support for Jewish travelers

and are places for worship. In this video from December 2022, Erez is leading Hanukkah celebrations in Cebu. It's the Jewish Festival of Light. The Light represents basically between the darkness, not by fighting, by adding more light, because a little bit of light pushes a lot of darkness. He then lights candles alongside members of the Habad House and local guests. That's the message of Harka. To fight anti-Semitism, to fight loneliness, to find problems, to fight fears, by giving more life, by helping each other. So you're going to make a blessing now.

This was taken about a week before Erez filmed Kalilin Hospital, where Aljan says onions were used to make him cry. Ahead of his visit to Khalil's grave, Erez sends this voice note. I hope that Khalil in heaven will help me not to sin. The Free Birth Society made millions selling a simple message to pregnant women. You don't need ultrasounds, doctorate. or midwives, you can free birth. But behind the scenes, terrible things were happening. I feel ashamed about this, but I didn't think that the deaths were bad until a year after I left.

Subscribe to the Guardian Investigates feed to get all the episodes of the birthkeepers. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Out now. We found the video of. of Erez leading the Hanukkah prayers on Roy Inchieto's Facebook. Remember, the guy who recruited Algin and set up the shoot? Listen, Jin, this opportunity comes only once. So let's make the most of it. After the filming, Algin thanked him for his help setting it up.

Happy New Year's Roy! And then sent him this video of Khalil, wishing him a happy new year. Thank you for everything. She says he didn't tell him. tell her about the live online campaign. And then after Khalil died, Erez told her not to contact Roy. Judging by his Facebook page, Roy has had a pretty successful life. He looks to be in his 40s with a family.

He travels abroad a lot and has a day job in sales at an insurance company in Sabu. So where does he fit in? How much does he know? It might be at work. I'm going to call Roy and ask him about the campaigns. I'm not going to tell him I've read and listened to all the messages he sent to Algin just yet. I want to hear what he says first. Hello?

Hi. Hi, am I speaking to Roy? Yes. Roy, hi. My name is Simi. I introduce myself and I ask him how he got involved with online campaigns for children with cancer. Oh, you mean the campaign from the children with leukemia? Yes, yes. Can you tell me about the campaigns?

Yeah, I remember that campaign because there was this Israeli group who approached me here in the Philippines to help kids. They come over, then they ask me if there were kids who can be health. And the guy present, which is from, I don't know, from Canada, I introduced them to him. And after that, probably they communicate with each other. I didn't know after what's going on next. Okay. Who is this guy from Canada? The guy's name was Eric.

And then how did you go about finding the family? I asked my friend who is a doctor if they have some kids who are in this category, who are in need of health for pills and who are cancer kids, and that's the reason why I get to know those kids with leukemia. So I asked him, who are the families that Roy linked up with Erez, or Eric, as he calls. him. Ah, I forgot already the name because it's long time real. Okay. But yes, I remember.

I was, I introduced, I was able to introduce two girls. Only two girls. Yeah, and then, and then I explained to them that this group will help you and then you, you talk to them. No mention of Khalil. or Algin. Boroi tells me about the filming with the two families he is being open about. The videos was filmed like a normal video. Were the kids made to cry?

The kids were sitting down and talking about their condition. And I think it was the normal reaction was, yeah, you can really shed the tear. but not on the extent of crying. Were the kids made to do anything to prepare for the filming? No, the kids were just sitting and she just talked about her condition and like an interview, talking to the camera, something like that. Did you tell the families to make sure the kids had their head shaved? No, because,

The kids are already being shaved. You didn't tell them to make sure they were shaved for the filming? No, I did not. Roy is clearly holding something back here. We've heard the messages he sent to Algin. Did Eric promise you anything? Like, what was in it for you to get involved? There was none because, like I said,

I don't want to earn from it if there is any monetary value because for me it's not about that it's about helping the kids have you spoken to Eric since these videos were created no no more he went back to I don't know

Israel or he went to Europe and I did not I did not hear him But after the filming, you didn't follow up with them to see if they received the money. I did not, because after the filming, it was that guy who talked to the families. And I also don't want to be like a middleman or something. I tell him I know that some of the families didn't get the money that was raised. I feel something like puzzled about what's going on.

I feel puzzled. I did not bother to ask if what's going on because I feel it's not my job. So what do you have to say to those families that trusted you? I can tell to the family that I am very sorry of what's happening and I don't have that control as to the situation going on because the information given was to look for those kids who are in need of help, especially for the buildings and their treatment.

He made all these promises to the families and didn't ask any questions. Like, how do you promise these families, these people are going to help? When you don't even know where the videos are going, like he couldn't confirm what the families were promised. Anything about the money, anything about the campaigns. I don't know if he was just withholding a lot of information from me or he genuinely doesn't know him saying that he was just sitting there and they just thank the sponsors.

We know that's far from the truth. I tried to call Roy back in the following days, asking him for more information and to press him for more details about the work he did with errors. but he stopped taking my calls and didn't respond to my messages. Chancellor Tikva is just one of the organisations hosting these fundraising videos of children with cancer. It's been the most active.

But there's also another called Walls of Hope that hosts some of the same campaigns. When I look into the registration for it, I find an Erez-Hodari listed as the non-profits direction. and an address in Calgary, Canada. It's important to say there is another Wars of Hope that does human rights work through art and has nothing to do with this.

Jack looks into Erez-Hadari online. So kind of first Port-of-Ca-Call be maybe to try and find social media profiles for him. There's a Facebook page with that name, which doesn't have much information on it, but there is a Facebook profile picture that we located to be outside a kosher restaurant in Toronto, Canada. Not many friends on there, but because there's a picture,

we could run that through facial recognition software, and that shows that this same guy attended what looks to be his son's wedding in Calgary, Canada. I take the photos that Jack finds online of Erez Hadari to Algin to make sure we're talking about the same person. Will you identify whether that was the person who reached out to you? I show her his picture, along with a few others of men his age, a kind of photo line-up. She straight away points to the image of Erez-Hadari,

but seems nervous. Yes, that is the person who contacted me. That is the person. We need to find out what's happened with other families. Have they had the same experience as Algin? After weeks of looking for clues in other videos, we have a breakthrough. We find an old Chancellor Tikva campaign page for a girl called Anna. She's on a hospital bed begging for help.

And in it, Anna's father mentions a charity that helped them, called Funde Vida. A quick Google search shows Fundi Vida is a respected active charity in Cartagena in Colombia. And when I scroll through their Instagram page, I find this video. It says it's an event commemorating the fight against childhood cancer. It's at a fancy hotel with lots of happy children and costumes surrounded by colourful balloons. And when we look closer, we see one of them looks like the girl from the Chancellor Take for Video.

It looks like Anna. She's wearing a pink dress with a headscarf. The director of the charity confirms it is Anna and helps put us in touch with her family. I asked my Colombian colleague, Jose Antonio Lucio, to go to Cartagena to see if they'll talk to us. Hi, guys. I managed to meet Anna and Sergio. We had a good chat.

They are truly amazing, kind-hearted, very humble people. But basically, you know, they said that they didn't receive any money for the campaigns. I managed to get some information from Anna's phone which I think will be very useful about her communications with the person that was kind of recruiting them to do them, this campaign videos and so. So I'm sending them over and I hope it's useful. Jose has found voice notes that were sent by a woman called Isabel

to the father Serhio and to Anna. Like Roy, Isabel wants photos and videos, and she's pushing Anna to send more and more. All the photos you have from the clinic or foundation, send them to me, please, without the hat on. Okay, my love? That's why this process has been so slow. You haven't sent them. Photos and videos are necessary to get help. Who is Isabel, this woman demanding things from a little girl that has cancer?

This is very bad, this is very bad, Anna, very bad indeed. That's next time on World of Secrets. If you have any information you would like to share with me about this investigation, you can send an email to simi at bbc.co.uk. This has been episode two of six of season 10 of World of Secrets, the child cancer scam from the BBC World Service. Thank you for listening. If you want more people to hear about this investigation, then one of the best things you can do is leave us a rating or review. It really helps more people find the podcast. The Child Cancer Scam is presented and investigated by me, Simi Jala O's Show, with Jack Goodman and Ned Davis.

It's written and produced by Neil McCarthy and Rob Wilson. Rebecca Henski is the executive producer. And the sound design and mix is by Andy Fell. In the Philippines, our reporter is Tracks the Floor. In Colombia, it's Jose Antonio Lucio. voiceover by Jay Baruzi and Margarita Rodriguez. It's a BBC I production for the BBC World Service.