Micah Richards admitted he was catfished alongside four of his Manchester City teammates by a “fantastic” scam.
The former City full-back described how an interaction with an ‘admirer’ on MSN led him and a group of team-mates to be tricked into giving out free City tickets.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Richards explained: “I get a message request from this, ‘Maria Suarez’. I think okay, ‘I’ll accept that’. We get talking, [I ask] ‘Where are you from? Bla bla bla.’ I think she said Spain but she’s over in England.
Advert
“She said, ‘As it goes I’m a Manchester City fan’ and I’m thinking ‘Ooft, this is fantastic’. And back then Manchester City weren’t great so I thought, ‘Is someone having me over here?’
“She said, ‘I’d like to go to the game’. So I bought her two tickets as I normally give all my tickets to my family. I get her two player’s lounge tickets.”
Richard continued: “You know when someone you like comes to the game, you know a partner or something, you’re doing the most aren’t you? All the skills. I got Man of the Match for that game. I was on fire.
“So after the game - in those days you had a club suit on, I was dressed to the nines. I pop into the player’s lounge and I’m looking around.
Advert
“I’m thinking, ‘I can’t see her anywhere.’ So I’m thinking, ‘I’ll wait.’ 10 minutes go by. Half an hour goes by. An hour goes by.
“I’ve logged on to the MSN and she’s only gone and blocked me. So I’m thinking, ‘What has gone on here?’
“So obviously you speak to the lads. I say, ‘Does anyone know this girl? She asked me for tickets’
“And I’m not exaggerating - four of the other lads had the same text from a fake account. And she managed to swindle about 10 to 12 tickets.
Advert
“To this day I don’t know who swindled us but it was absolutely fantastic.”
SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.
Topics: Football, Manchester City, Micah Richards