Waxyaabaha lacagta ee wararka saxda ah ee ABC ayaa keenaya xawaalad caalami ah oo lagu dhibaato-geliyo dadka
Warbixin ka soo baxday warbaahinta Australia ayaa muujisay in lacagaha dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay ay ku xiran yihiin shirkad Australian ah oo loo yaqaanno Trigo XO, taasoo ka mid ah xawaalad caalami ah oo ay hoggaamiye u yahay Shefi Goldberg.
Shirkadda Trigo XO iyo waxyaabaha ay ku dhibaato-geliyaan dadka
Shirkadda Trigo XO waxay leedahay saddex webisadood oo ku bixiya koorsooyin internetka ah, laakiin markii la isku dayay in la iibsado, waxaa jiray khaldanno badan oo aan la xalinin. Dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay ayaa lacag ka bixin jiray shirkaddan si ay u helaan koorsooyin aan jirin.
Markii warbaahinta Australia la xiriiray, macallinka shirkaddu wuxuu sheegay inuu ka baqay inuu xaqiijiyo in lacagaha ay yimaadaan ay yihiin kuwo sax ah. Shirkaddu waxay ka baxday xiriirka warbaahinta kadib markii la xiriiray, iyadoo aan la ogeyn cidda rasmiga ah ee shirkadda ku jira.
Shefi Goldberg iyo xawaaladda caalamiga ah ee Sapphire Network
Shefi Goldberg wuxuu hoggaamiyaha ka yahay shirkadaha GoBe Marketing, taasoo leh xafiisyo ku yaalla dalal badan oo ay ku jiraan Israel, Bulgaria, iyo Ukraine. Wuxuu sidoo kale la xiriiraa shirkadda Smart Pay, taasoo ka mid ah xawaaladda caalamiga ah ee Sapphire Network.
Wararka laga helay gudaha xawaaladdan waxay muujiyeen in lacagaha dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay ay ku xiran yihiin shirkaddan. Goldberg wuxuu sheegay inaanu la xiriirin shirkadda Trigo XO, laakiin warbixinnada ayaa muujinaya inuu yahay hoggaamiyaha xawaaladdan.
Dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay iyo khasaaraha ay ka soo gaareen
Dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay waxaa ka mid ah Rodger, oo lacag dhan $125,000 ku bixiyay shirkad aan rasmiga ahayn, iyo Toby, oo lacag dhan $500,000 ku bixiyay shirkad kale oo aan rasmiga ahayn. Dadkan waxay ahaayeen dad aan waxba ka ogeyn xawaaladdan.
Warbixinta ayaa sheegaysa in dadka lagu dhibaato-geliyay ay ka mid yihiin 4,000 oo qof oo Australian ah, iyadoo xawaaladdan ay ka dhaqan gelisay 2021-kii ilaa maanta. Khasaaraha ayaa gaaraya lacagaha badan oo aan la ogeyn.
Receipts from two Australian scam victims have helped investigators trace payments to an Israeli-linked company at the heart of the Sapphire Network, a global fraud operation that has targeted thousands of Australians since at least 2021.
Victim receipts expose a laundering front
Two Australian victims, Rodger and Toby, were defrauded by the Sapphire Network through fake investment platforms and fabricated news articles. Rodger lost around $125,000 after being told his broker needed a new bank account, while Toby parted with more than $500,000 through a fraudulent trading dashboard that showed fake gains and losses.
The initial payments from both victims were routed to Trigo XO, a Melbourne-based company that advertises online courses on three websites. After receiving $365 from another victim, the company sent a 35-page PDF filled with generic leadership platitudes. The phone number on the site was unanswerable and the online checkouts were broken, revealing the cover story was a sham designed to disguise scam payments as legitimate course sales.
Israeli national Shefi Goldberg at the centre
Trigo XO's director said the real owner was based in Israel and set up a call with Shefi Goldberg, who insisted all questions about the business should come to him. Goldberg's name does not appear on the company's official filings with Australia's business registry, and he provided no proof of ownership. He later told Swedish media foundation Qurium he had no link at all to Trigo XO.
Goldberg is co-director of GoBe Marketing, which has operated call centres in Israel, Cyprus, South Africa, Spain and the Philippines. A South African offshoot called MSG Marketing was found to be processing payments for an investment scam in 2021, misrepresenting the transactions as immigration-related. Payments from two Australian victims were also made to USC Market Place, an Israeli company that lists a GoBe Marketing employee as its director.
Leaked documents reveal the scale of the operation
Documents leaked from inside the Sapphire Network, shared with the OCCRP in 2025, contain multiple references to Goldberg's businesses and connect the payment processor Smart Pay to him. A screen recording from inside the network shows a back-office worker being surveilled while entering victim data into spreadsheets, providing an inside view of the money laundering operation.
Investigators estimate the network has defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of dollars through investment scams. The operation has been linked to call centres in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Macedonia and Israel, with more than 4,000 Australians targeted to date. The ABC investigation identified the network using internal spreadsheets that logged payments from victims including Susan, who paid $378.50 to the unregulated platform Finterex Capital.
