Corinthians midfielder Jesse Lingard has been featured in an advert for a fraudulent “UK-based company” which offers cut-price business and first-class flights, and has scammed hundreds of thousands of pounds from victims.
Concierge First claims to offer flight tickets at steep discounts, but several victims who spoke to iBusiness.News warned that the company is a scam.
“I paid Concierge First over £2,000 for Business-class return tickets to Dubai with Emirates, which was around half of the price I was seeing online on the airline’s own website,” a 44-year-old London-based victim, who asked to remain anonymous, told iBusiness.News.
“After I paid them, they stopped responding and never provided the tickets.”
As per its website, the scam operation claims to be a UK limited company with the registration number 80781993, but Companies House shows no records of such a company existing.
Concierge First finds most of its victims via paid social media ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Lingard features in several of their ads; in one video, he is seen recording himself on a plane and giving a “shout out” to Concierge First.
In another advert posted to Facebook on 26 August, Lingard says: “I recently used Cam and the team at Concierge First to arrange my first-class flights and they saved me up to 80%, which is really good.
“Concierge First are the real deal guys, so get in touch with them,” Lingard continued.
It’s not clear if the former Manchester United star actually promoted the company, or if his likeness was used in an AI-generated video.
JL Commercial, the management company representing Lingard, did not respond to several requests for comment from iBusiness.News about his involvement in promoting Concierge First. They also did not respond when asked if Lingard was paid to feature in the advert, or if it was AI-generated.
It’s not confirmed who owns Concierge First, but the “Cam” that Lingard referred to in his advert is likely to be the founder.
iBusiness.News was able to locate an Instagram profile belonging to a Concierge First employee called “Cam”, but details about himself and his exact role within the company are scarce.
Several other celebrities, or their likeness, have also featured in similar ads for Concierge First, including British rapper ArrDee and social media personality Ed Matthews.
