Global investigations from the BBC. Uncovering gripping stories from around the world and telling them episode by episode. Delve into a World of Secrets.
Latest season: The Child Cancer Scam. Your child is critically ill. 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 that was donated. It never comes, and all the while your child is fighting for their life.
Previously on World of Secrets:
Death in Dubai. A woman falls from a tower block and her name starts trending. But behind the online rumours lies an even darker reality.
The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch.
And Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape.
Global investigations from the BBC. Uncovering gripping stories from around the world and telling them episode by episode. Delve into a World of Secrets.
Latest season: The Child Cancer Scam. Your child is critically ill. 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 that was donated. It never comes, and all the while your child is fighting for their life.
Previously on World of Secrets:
Death in Dubai. A woman falls from a tower block and her name starts trending. But behind the online rumours lies an even darker reality.
The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch.
And Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape.
Monic dreams of leaving her home in rural Uganda for a different life. So when a “friend” promises her a job in Dubai, it feels like the chance she’s been waiting for. Monic is elated, she is the first of her 11 siblings to travel abroad. But just a few months later she is dead. Her family is left searching for answers. What happened in Dubai?
A warning that this podcast includes disturbing scenes, including discussion of sexual abuse and suicide. Some episodes also contain strong language.
Presented by investigative journalist Runako Celina.
Season 9 of World of Secrets, Death in Dubai, is a BBC Eye investigation, produced in association with Thread Studios, for the BBC World Service.
Please note, the image is being used for illustrative purposes only and the person depicted in it is a model.
If you feel distressed by the references in this story, please speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support such as Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org
For UK listeners, details of organisations offering information about or support after sexual abuse, or with feelings of despair, are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. Here’s a link to the BBC Eye documentary film, which we recommend you watch after listening to this podcast: https://bit.ly/bbcdeathindubai
If you are in the UK, you can watch on iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n12t256jg