United star falls victim to elaborate fraud as week goes from bad to worse – The Guardian

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. Stat CategoryDetailValue ShotsTotal shots1 Key passesPasses leading to a shot2 CrossesAccurate / Attempted2 / 5 Long ballsAccurate / Attempted4 / 10 TouchesTotal touches67 DribblesCompleted / Attempted0 / 1 ClearancesDefensive clearances2 RecoveriesBall recoveries5 Aerial duelsWon / Total1 / 1 Ground duelsWon / Total1 / 3 Featured image by Molly Darlington/Getty The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.