Nottingham Forest midfielder Gustavo Scarpa falls victim to a crypto scam losing nearly £1m, about $1.2 million after investing in cryptocurrency platform Xland.

Scarpa, along with other Brazilian professional footballers Mayke Rocha de Oliveira, and Willian Bigode, lost about $5 million in total in this scam. Reportedly, Bigode persuaded Scarpa and Mayke to invest in Xland, which Bigode later denied.

Regarding the situation, Scarpa noted: “I’ve always seen stupid people fall victim to pyramid schemes and scams. Finding myself in a situation like that is horrible.”

Mayke allegedly invested 4 million reais, about $757,000, while Scarpa dispersed 6.3 million reais or about $1.2 million in Xland which promised returns of about five percent per month on investments. 

Following the scam, Mayke and Scarpa reported the incident to the authorities. Xland denied being a pyramid scam and asserted that the failure of FTX was to blame for investor losses.

Meanwhile, Bigode reportedly lost 17.5 million reais, over $3.3 million due to the crypto scam. Xland promised to return the football players’ funds following the accusations.

“I’m not a scammer, I didn’t take anyone’s money. I’m a victim, too, because I haven’t gotten my own money back to this day,” Bigode added.

According to The Guardian report, Scarpa missed recent games because of court proceedings connected to the crypto scam case.

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper stated: “Those things go hand in hand, of course. We want him settled in his mind and sorting out the situation. It’s an unfortunate situation and he’s got our full support with it. Hopefully, he can get it sorted out and then focus on his availability for us.”

Crypto scams have been rampant since the spawn of the crypto industry, with even sports stars indulging in some of them. Last month, SEC charged ex-NBA star Paul Pierce for touting EMAX tokens on social media without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion.

Also Read: 5 Most Common Crypto Scams to be aware of in 2023