A fraudulent website purporting to be the "Diogo Jota Foundation" has vanished after collecting nearly £50,000 in cryptocurrency donations, following media investigations that revealed it had no association with the deceased footballer's family or Liverpool FC.
The bogus foundation disappeared on Thursday after The Telegraph exposed its activities, with the domain now displaying only a blank page.
The site had falsely displayed logos from Liverpool FC, Unicef, Allianz and the Portuguese Platform of Development NGOs, despite having no partnerships with these organisations.
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Diogo Jota died on July 3 in a tragic car crash that also claimed the life of his brother Andre Silva
|PA
Both Liverpool and Jota's family confirmed they had no knowledge of the foundation or its fundraising activities.
The website emerged just three days following Jota's tragic death in July, claiming to have collected $64,250 (£47,715) for youth empowerment and community development initiatives.
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The fraudulent operation exclusively accepted cryptocurrency payments, directing donors to an external platform that purportedly processed "USDT, ETH and other crypto through NOWPayments securely".
The site proclaimed its mission was to honour Jota's journey from a youth academy in Gondomar to becoming one of Europe's elite footballers.
It boasted of distributing 25,000 meals, sponsoring 300 schoolchildren and establishing 50 local partnerships, though these claims remain unverified.
The Telegraph's investigation prompted immediate responses from the misrepresented organisations, with at least three confirming they had no affiliation with the fraudulent scheme.
Allianz UK issued a statement declaring: "We can confirm that we do not have a partnership, and our logo should not have been used on this website. We monitor illegal use of our brand and we are taking steps to get the website shut down by the suitable authorities."
The company added: "Misuse of branding is an ongoing issue in the digital world, and fraudsters will often try to add recognised brands to their fake websites to try and deceive the public."
The website's shutdown coincided with confirmation from NOWPayments CEO Kate Lifshits that her company had processed no transactions for the fraudulent foundation.
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The website for the Diogo Jota Foundation has vanished after an investigation found it had no connection to Liverpool of Jota's family
|DIOGO JOTA FOUNDATION
"As soon as we became aware of the alleged fraud, we stopped providing our services to the project immediately. Our widget is not active on the foundation's website," Lifshits stated.
The Charity Commission verified that the supposed foundation never submitted a registration application, despite legal requirements for charities exceeding £5,000 in annual income.
Liverpool announced last month that its official LFC Foundation would establish a legitimate grassroots football programme honouring Jota's memory, with proceeds from commemorative merchandise supporting this genuine initiative.
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