Arsenal have fallen victim to an embarrassing scam after it seems their deal with vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto was signed off by someone acting as an employee of the Chinese company.
revealed in April that they had penned a deal with 'the world's best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer'.
However, just three months later it appears the employee of the Chinese company who sanctioned the agreement, in fact, didn't even work there.
The suspected fraudster, Li Juan, has now been detained and is currently being investigated by Shanghai police.
Reports suggest Juan rented property in the Chinese city and tricked potential clients into believing he had opened a BYD branch there.
BYD - which stands for Build Your Dreams - designs, develops, manufactures and distributes cars, buses, commercial vehicles and rail stock.
It also provides buses to Transport for London and employs more than 220,000 employees across five continents.
In a statement published after signing the deal, Arsenal insisted the partnership 'came to fruition following our successful pre-season tour to Shanghai and Beijing in 2017'.
It was accompanied by a picture of Gunners stars Granit Xhaka, Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi holding a shirt, upon which 'BYD 1' was printed.
As part of the package, BYD would receive 'pitchside LED signage' and 'branding on dugout seats' at the Emirates Stadium. It also had access to Arsenal Legends for special promotional events in China.
in which they claimed foul play.
It said: 'Recently, BYD Company Limited noticed that some media published or reproduced false reports about the Company, which involved misinterpretation of the Statement on Conducting Related Businesses by Li Juan and Other Related Persons through Illegal Use of the Name of BYD released by the Company on 12 July 2018 and distortion of facts.
'Such reports caused the question to the Company from the public and negative impact on the Company, to some extent.
'Li Juan was suspected of committing a crime due to faking the identity of staff of BYD and using the forged seal to sign contracts, which BYD has reported to the police.
'The police is getting involved in the investigation and Li Juan currently has been taken for enforcement actions by the police.'
-Dailymail