Lazio 'tricked into paying €2million Stefan de Vrij instalment to email scammers instead of Feyenoord'

We’ve all received scam emails trying to make us part with our money but you wouldn’t think a professional football club would fall for it. However, that appears to be exactly what has happened according to reports from Italy.

According to Il Tempo, Lazio were tricked into sending €2million [£1.75m] to email scammers thinking they were paying Feyenoord the final part of their instalment for Stefan de Vrij.

Having paid in instalments of €2million, the final payment was due this week and having been contacted by what they thought was the Dutch club, Lazio sent the final payment over.

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Except, the email – which reportedly looked identical to what a Feyenoord official would send – hadn’t come from the Dutch club, it had come from scammers who had changed the IBAN number of the account to send the money to, meaning they received it instead of Feyenoord.

The scam was only brought to light when Feyenoord contacted Lazio to inform them no money had been received. Italian police are now investigating the scam.

The irony being De Vrij is set to leave Lazio on a free transfer this summer, four years after joining from the Netherlands. The Dutch defender has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Liverpool as well as Inter Milan.

Lazio aren’t the first football club to be scammed like this, however, with Hamilton Academicals being robbed of £1million in a phone scam last year.