Following The Money

19 August 2026

What began as the investigation of a single immigration scam targeting vulnerable people with false promises of legal pathways to Canada and the United States evolved into the discovery of an extensive network of fraudulent immigration businesses, shell companies, and suspected money-laundering operations in Israel, South Africa, US and Spain.

Following corporate records, payment infrastructure, technical services and public records across multiple jurisdictions led us from one victim’s transaction to an international network of companies whose activities include immigration and reallocation services, investment operations and hotel management.

Many of the companies, infrastructure providers and individuals identified in this investigation overlap with those documented in Qurium’s reports from the Scam Empire investigation (2025). Our research shows that the very same actors in Israel providing services to financial investment scams are also running immigration scams and processing the victims’ payments.

Despite repeated investigative reporting from more than 30 investigative media and law-enforcement’s symbolic actions, much of this enabling infrastructure remains in operation and continues to ruin peoples lives.

Victims continue to be recruited through advertisements on major social media platforms, generating huge advertising revenue for Meta. Affiliate marketing networks continue to earn commissions by delivering victims to criminals. Payment processors continue to process deposits, while telecommunications and technical service providers continue to supply the infrastructure required to operate these schemes.

Forensic report: Following the Money

Press Contacts

Digital forensics
Tord Lundström <t at virtualroad.org>
Technical Director

Media
Clara Zid <info at virtualroad.org>
Outreach and Media manager

About Qurium

Qurium Media Foundation is an international non-profit organization that provides secure hosting, digital forensics, incident response, and infrastructure protection for journalists, human rights defenders, and public-interest media organizations worldwide. Its investigations focus on censorship, surveillance, digital attacks, and the infrastructures that enable them.

Further reading

[20 Aug 2026] ABC Australia “Fake ABC News articles are promoting scams. The money leads to an international fraud network“

[14 Aug 2026] AmaBhungane (Center for Investigative Journalism, South Africa) “Online Gambling: Look Who’s Knocking At The Door“