Brazilian police have arrested a hacker on suspicion of illegally gaining access to Neymar's bank account and stealing over €35,000 from the Paris Saint-Germain superstar.
A 20-year-old man was taken into custody on Wednesday "for defrauding bank clients", according to a statement from police, who have confirmed that the account in question belongs to Neymar.
The suspect worked at an unnamed bank where the Brazil international and his father Neymar Santos Sr, who serves as his son's business manager, held accounts and was able to gain access to their passwords via a branch colleague.
What's been said?
The police officer in charge of the case named Neymar as the victim of the theft in an interview to Brazilian TV show Brasil Urgente before explaining how the crime was carried out.
"What did this lad do?" Fabio Pinheiro Lopes said. "He got the password of his office colleague and stole small amounts of money from famous people with high net worth.
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"These people didn't notice. He made [a transfer] of 10,000 reais [$1,912.59], then another of 10,000, then 20,000, and then 50,0000 and the total came to 200,000."
Neymar reimbursed
Lopes said that Neymar's father was likely the one that noticed and reported the theft given his role in managing his son's off-field businesses.
The officer also confirmed that the stolen funds have already been returned to Neymar, adding: "When they discovered, they called the bank. The bank reimbursed the victim and investigated who was behind it."
Neymar's press office has been contacted by Reuters regarding the incident, but he has yet to publicly respond to the case.
The 30-year-old is currently out of action due to injury at PSG, but could be in line to return to Mauricio Pochettino's squad when they take on Real Madrid in the Champions League next week.
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