The website claiming to be a foundation established in memory of Diogo Jota has been knocked down amid allegations that it has no ties with his family or Liverpool. The footballer and his brother tragically lost their lives in a car accident in July, days after Jota tied the knot with his long-term partner, Root Cardoso.
The Diogo Jota Foundation seeks donations through the website Diogojotafoundation.org, which was founded three days after his death and raised £47,715 by August 21st.
It is understood that the site has no connections with Liverpool or Jota’s family. Liverpool told the telegraph that neither the club nor the family had any knowledge of the foundation or its website.
As of the morning of August 22nd, the website was deactivated and users were redirected to a domain hosting site instead.
The Charitable Committee also confirmed that the Foundation had not submitted a registration application. It features the logos of UNICEF, Allianz and Portuguese development NGOs, but at least three out of four have been confirmed to not cooperate with the foundation.
Last month, Liverpool confirmed that their independent LFC foundation is “committed to creating a grassroots football program under the name of Diogo.” The club also says, “If supporters want to honor Diogo by printing “Diogo J. 20” on the back of the shirts in the official club store, or via our official online store, all profits will be sent to the LFC Foundation. ”
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Allianz UK said, “You can confirm that there is no partnership and that the logo should not be used on this website. We are monitoring the illegal use of the brand and taking steps to close the website by appropriate authorities.
The website encourages users to donate through offsite platforms that appear to only accept cryptocurrency, saying “Nowpayments will securely accept USDT, ETH and other cryptocurrencies.”
However, Nowpayments CEO Kate Lifshits says it has not processed payments to the foundation. “We recognize that Nowpayments Payment System may be used for fraudulent fundraising activities on behalf of foundations that are not affiliated with the Diogo Jota family,” Lifshits said.
“We can confirm that payments to this foundation are not being processed now. As soon as we realised we found alleged fraud, we stopped providing services to the project. The widget is not active on the foundation’s website.
Additionally, funding regulators warn:
“Although most charity appeals are authentic, regulators always advise the public to take caution when considering making donations to ensure that money is going where it is needed and where it wants to go.
“Generally speaking, funding regulators do not recommend donations to foundations that are not registered charities due to the high risk of fraud. People need to monitor further warning signs that online appeal is vague or fraudulent, such as vague information on their websites or spelling errors or lack of information from other sources.”
