Your child is critically ill with cancer. It’s the worst news you can get. But to make the situation even more awful, you struggle to afford the care they need. So, when someone tells you a foreign sponsor can help raise the money, you’ll do anything.

You make a video: your child begs for help from strangers online. But it comes to nothing. You wait and wait for the cash from the donations. It never comes, and all the while your child is fighting for their life.

In this World of Secrets podcast from the BBC World Service, BBC Eye uncovers the shocking truth.

Released from 15th December.

Please note, the show image is being used for illustrative purposes only and the person depicted in it is a model.

Seven-year-old Khalil from the Philippines has cancer. His family hope making a campaign video might save him, because they desperately need help to pay for his treatment. But the shoot is demanding, exhausting. Khalil even has onions put in front of his eyes to make him cry.

For his mother Aljin, it’s a last-ditch attempt to help her son. But despite following every demand made by a “foreign sponsor”, she’s told the video doesn’t make any money.

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.

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.

A woman called Isabel pushes a little girl to send videos from her hospital bed. It’s part of a recruitment drive for sick children in Colombia to take part in campaigns. What does she know about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that appear to have been raised? It’s money the family never saw. Who was she working for, and what can she tell us about this scam?

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.

A mother from Ukraine signs a contract, hoping that it will help her young daughter. Viktoriia has a brain tumour: her story is plastered all over social media despite her family’s request that the video they made isn’t shared.

Olena says she wasn’t given time to read the contract properly. When we look more closely, it makes for shocking reading. Now she knows the truth, she wants to stop the scammers, agreeing to help us go undercover.

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.

The investigation into why millions of dollars promised to families with sick children never reaches them moves to Israel. There we find misleading addresses and more questions than answers. Who is making these online campaigns which claim to help desperate parents? New ones keep appearing, but the story’s the same.

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.

After never receiving the money raised in their children’s name, mothers are finally confronting the scammers and demanding answers.

Now is the time to ask why. Where is the money?

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.

World of Secrets will be back with gripping new investigations in 2026.

Somewhere in America, a twelve year old girl is being abused in her own home. Her abuser is sharing photographs of her with a vast community of child abusers on the ‘dark web’ — an encrypted corner of the internet where users are untraceable. But, hidden amongst the paedophiles, are two men whose job it is to try and find her: US Special Agents Greg Squire and Pete Manning. For more than seven years, BBC Eye journalist Sam Piranty was granted rare access to follow their work, observing the extraordinary lengths they will go to hunt down offenders and rescue children. Every detail matters, and every decision has consequences. They will not look away. The race is on.

Season 11 of World of Secrets, The Darkest Web, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service.

US Special Agents Greg Squire and Pete Manning work together to track down people who sexually abuse children and share images of their abuse online. They thought they knew what they were dealing with but they’ve just discovered they have no idea. In a prison in Amsterdam they meet a prolific paedophile, Robert Micklesons, who reveals to them the vast online world created by paedophiles to share images and video of child sexual abuse. When they get back to the US they get an urgent call. A police officer in Denmark has found images of a girl in America who appears to have been sexually abused for six years. But no one has any idea where she is. Their job is to find her. But how will they do it?

Season 11 of World of Secrets, The Darkest Web, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service.

This podcast includes some upsetting scenes, discussions of child sexual abuse, and there’s some strong language.

For further information on the issues raised in the programme, contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

US Special Agents Greg and Pete are desperate. Somewhere in America a twelve year old girl, who they have called Lucy, is being sexually abused. Her abuser has been sharing images of his abuse for six years on the dark web. They have to find her - and save her.

They were convinced that Facebook would be able to help them using its facial recognition technology, but the tech giant is unable to help. So they go back to the start , examining every single thing they can see in the room she is being abused in: the sofa, the bed and then finally they wonder what they might discover if they look at the room itself, specifically the exposed brick wall. Is there any way someone could identify these bricks? And could that person help them to find Lucy?

Season 11 of World of Secrets, The Darkest Web, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service.

This podcast includes some upsetting scenes, discussions of child sexual abuse, and there’s some strong language.

For further information on the issues raised in the programme, contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support go to bbc.co.uk/actionline

US Special Agents Greg and Pete are desperate. Somewhere in America a twelve year old girl, who they have called Lucy, is being sexually abused. Her abuser has been sharing images of his abuse for six years on the dark web. They have to find her - and save her.

They were convinced that Facebook would be able to help them using its facial recognition technology, but the tech giant is unable to help. So they go back to the start, examining every single thing they can see in the room she is being abused in: the sofa, the bed and then finally they wonder what they might discover if they look at the room itself, specifically the exposed brick wall. Is there any way someone could identify these bricks? And could that person help them to find Lucy?

Season 11 of World of Secrets, The Darkest Web, is a BBC Eye investigation for the BBC World Service.

This podcast includes some upsetting scenes, discussions of child sexual abuse, and there’s some strong language.

For further information on the issues raised in the programme, contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Shots ring out at a church guarded by gunmen in Lagos, Nigeria. Behind the blacked-out windows and high walls are secrets. In a pub in Oxford, England, a woman comes to us with a story. Hosts Charlie Northcott and Yemisi Adegoke investigate the cult of TB Joshua. Please note, some episodes in this season of World of Secrets contain graphic descriptions of sexual and physical violence, including sexual assault, rape and the language associated with it. This episode also contains strong language.

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline

Archive: The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Journeyman Pictures

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