Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli authorities last week arrested a Palestinian man from Ramallah in his 50s suspected of defrauding more than 100 Israelis out of nearly NIS 3 million ($950,000) through online marketplace scams, the police announced on Sunday.
Footage released Sunday showed counterterrorism officers conducting a raid in central Ramallah to detain the suspect. According to the investigation, the suspect allegedly posed as an Israeli resident in northern Israel and contacted sellers on platforms such as Yad2, Israel’s largest online classifieds and marketplace platform, similar to Craigslist or eBay. After offering to buy high-value items and agreeing on a price, he sent forged bank transfer confirmations.
Believing they had been paid, victims handed over goods, which were collected by a taxi and transferred to another vehicle — often near the community of Beit Aryeh in Israel’s Binyamin region — before being delivered to the suspect’s home in Ramallah.
By the time the victims realized the payments were fake, the products could no longer be recovered. Police said approximately 100 complaints were filed between 2024 and 2025, with the total alleged fraud estimated at around NIS 3 million.
During the raid, authorities seized evidence to be examined as part of the ongoing investigation. A court has extended the suspect’s detention until Wednesday, while police continue to probe potential accomplices and the methods used in the scam.
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