Lionel Messi frenzy grips China but police have a ‘serious’ warning for fans

Lionel Messi is in China and ofcourse, the fans cannot keep calm about it. Why should they after all? A Messi meet is every football fan's dream but the Chinese police have warned people. You might get scammed, police told fans as numerous scams surrounding the Argentine legend's visit to Beijing surfaced.

In China for a friendly match against Australia in Beijing, Messi mania drew scammers and ticket-scalpers desperate to capitalise. Beijing police flagged one widely circulated advertisement that promises an evening in Lionel Messi's company for 300,000 yuan ($42,000).

Read more: Prince William wore heels? Royal's response to man's strange height query

"If you can be scammed of 300,000 yuan, we'll raise a glass to you," Beijing public security bureau joked on the China's Twitter-like Weibo. Other offers posted online include "internal" stadium passes for 5,000 yuan and a "tailored VIP package" including an autographed jersey, front-row seats and a photo with Messi for over 8,000 yuan.

Unauthorised advertisement also claimed that Messi would appear on your shopping livestream to promote your product for 50 million yuan as Chinese fans scrambled to meet their hero Messi, with tickets for the game ranging from 580 to 4,800 yuan.

Messi landed in Beijing on Saturday. He will lead the world champions against the Socceroos at Beijing's newly renovated 68,000-capacity Workers' Stadium in a rematch of the round-of-16 clash at last winter's World Cup, where Argentina won 2-1 and went on to lift the trophy.

The 35-year-old will also play another friendly match when Argentina take on Indonesia in Jakarta on June 19.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.