Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC have issued a warning over an apparent scam involving the club’s sponsors and advertisers.
The Scottish Premiership side revealed that a firm calling itself the “Football Business Club” has been calling various groups claiming to be selling on their behalf.
In a memo issued yesterday morning, the Caley Jags advised its clients that the company was not acting for them and that financial information should not be handed over.
The company is understood to have contacted sponsors of players and the club itself, as well as advertisers, in connection with sales relating to its community services department and the ICT Trust.
The club declined to comment further last night, and a police spokeswoman could not say whether the force had been contacted about the issue.
An e-mail sent by Caley-Thistle to subscribers yesterday said: “Please be advised that a company calling themselves the ‘Football Business Club’ is currently calling around player/club sponsors and advertisers claiming to be selling on our behalf in connection with community and trust services.
“This company does not represent ICTFC and is NOT undertaking these calls on our behalf. We strongly advise that you do not provide them with any information; financial or otherwise.
“We can confirm that our systems have not been compromised and they appear to be lifting company names from adverts etc and making these calls on spec.”
The issue emerged amid growing alarm at the prevalence of financial scams in the north.
Last week, the Press and Journal revealed that City of London fraud squad officers had been in the region speaking to victims of a fast-growing racket known as “ghost brokering”.
Hundreds of relatively low-risk addresses from the Outer Hebrides to Shetland to Aberdeen have been used to create cheap insurance policies, which are then doctored and sold on to inner city clients.