One of Turkey’s leading sports clubs, Fenerbahçe, became a victim of an incredible fraudulent business. The club, which lost the money to fraudsters while trying to pay the last installment of a transfer made 2 years ago, cost almost 1 million euros.
A Dutch company claiming to be the club from which the transfer was made convinced Fenerbahçe to make the payment to them. After losing this money, the club that could not pay the main player was sued.
Fenerbahce filed a lawsuit
Fenerbahçe bought Slovenian national football player Miha Zajc’s testimonial from Empoli in January 2019. Paying 3.5 million euros for the testimonial, Fenerbahçe had 1 installment to pay. The club paid the money, but the money went to an unrelated company from another country.
A Dutch car company introduced itself as Empoli and asked Fenerbahçe to pay the last installment of the fee. Transferring 831 thousand 929 euros to the account of this company, Fenerbahçe realized the situation later. Football player Miha Zajc, on the other hand, complained about Fenerbahçe to FIFA because he could not get his salary and demanded the withdrawal of the license.
After the complaint, the club transferred the same amount of payment to the place where the payment was originally made. He then sued the fraudulent company. The Gelderland court recently ruled that the Dutch company must pay back the money to Fenerbahçe. Police are currently conducting a criminal investigation, according to a spokesperson. None of the suspects has been arrested.