A MAN has been arrested in Madrid for defrauding young South American footballers of up to €3,000 each with bogus promises of placing them in top La Liga sides.
The Policia Nacional detained him for fraud, document forgery, and for being involved in illegal immigration.
The scammer offered the players the chance to travel to Spain by obtaining the correct papers and a chance to play for one of the country’s prestigious soccer clubs.
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Once in Spain, the men only managed to access lower category sides.
After being unable to obtain the appropriate football federation licenses, they were left helpless without money.
The Policia Nacional launched a probe after getting two complaints.
The victims said they wanted to become professional soccer players and heard about a person who offered opportunities to move to Spain and to offer placements in top clubs.
After an initial approach to the man, he then contacted his marks directly, assuring them that he had contacts in La Liga clubs to get them signed up and that he could provide papers to allow them stay legally in Spain.
He packaged the con as a unique opportunity to develop their professional careers in football with promises of making a lot of money.
To make their dreams come true, he demanded payments of up to €3,000 to cover the costs of travel, accommodation and maintenance for three months in Spain, as well as getting signed to the clubs.
The arrested man even provided the victims with documents called ‘invitation commitments’, allegedly issued by different clubs which showed that players could be playing for the senior team within three months.
The fake papers even stated that the clubs would cover all of the expenses during that period.
Once the victims were reeled in, the bogus agent provided them with plane tickets to travel to Spain.
He supplied tips on how to behave act at border controls, indicating that they had to state that they were travelling to Spain for sporting reasons and to show the fake documents which provided evidence that they were footballers.
The man picked up the players at Madrid airport who made them sign supposed representation contracts, via which 10% of future earnings would go to him if they got a professional contract.
However, they were taken to lower league clubs which did provided temporary accommodation and food.
Once the trials ended and as they had no football federation licences, the victims were booted out.
The scammer then took them to hostels, at which point he left them to fend for themselves.
Several targets without money had to apply for loans from their home countries to pay off the demands of the agent.
The Policia Nacional investigation identified at least six victims and they discovered other victims were recruited in Europe, including Italy, through the same fake promises.
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