Bruno Fernandes: Man United captain falls victim to fraud | OneFootball

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has just come off one of his best ever seasons in club football.

Great season

The Portuguese star was outrageously good in the second half of the season as he helped Manchester United finish third in the league.

He also had a great individual season, providing 21 assists in the Premier League, breaking the all-time record.

Nonetheless, Fernandes has just come off the back of a disappointing World Cup, where his side exited to Spain in the last 16.

The creative midfielder registered just one assist and also failed to score a goal, as he disappeared for his national side.

Controversy

The Guardian newspaper has also reported that he has been the victim of fraud alongside England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.

The paper reports, “in a significant development, the illegal online casinos ­Nightwin and QH88 have hijacked the ­identity of two of the world’s most famous ­players, Real Madrid’s Jude ­Bellingham and ­Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, to ­present them as official partners of their brands.”

They did this by “using fake news articles, ­photographs and AI-generated video to fool their customers into ­believing that the stars’ endorsement was legitimate.”

In relation to United’s captain, a Vietnamese ­sportsbook and casino website QH88 “built a website around the brand’s fictitious association with the ­Portugal international and devoted ­considerable resources to pro­ducing a strikingly realistic ­AI‑generated deepfake video purportedly ­showing the playmaker signing his apparent ambas­sadorial contract with ­representatives of QH88” at Old Trafford.

None of Bruno Fernandes’ management team, Manchester United or QH88 had anything to say on the matter after The Guardian contacted them for their views on the story.

The English newspaper also highlighted the regular infringement of copyright and images that such sites seek to get away with, as “crests of famous clubs and ­photographs of star players are routinely used to promote brands that could not care less about image rights and trademarks, because these operators know any kind of enforcement is impossible.”

This is owing to the fact that they often operate almost entirely from offshore jurisdictions and use multiple shell ­companies to hide their true identity.

Featured image by Molly Darlington/Getty

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