Spanish police hunt sick scammer posing as widow of ex-Arsenal star Jose Antonio Reyes on Instagram to beg for cash after he died in horror crash

• Grieving Noelia Lopez warned fans on Instagram about scam earlier this week 
• Today, police confirmed they were investigating who was behind the account
• Regional government officials said complaint was made to Civil Guard in Utrera
• Comes after Reyes died when Mercedes went off the road near Seville on June 1

Police are investigating a fake social media account set up by an identity thief begging for money who has been posing as the widow of former Arsenal star Jose Antonio Reyes.

Grieving Noelia Lopez warned fans about the scam earlier this week after the fraudulent Instagram account was set up nearly two months after the car crash death of her husband.

Today, police confirmed they were investigating who was behind the account after mother-of-two Mrs Lopez lodged a formal complaint.

Grieving Noelia Lopez (right, with Reyes) warned fans about the scam earlier this week after the fraudulent Instagram account was set up nearly two months after the car crash death of her husband

Today, police confirmed they were investigating who was behind the account after mother-of-two Mrs Lopez lodged a formal complaint. Pictured: The real Mrs Lopez calls out the fake account on Instagram

Regional government officials said the complaint had been made at a Civil Guard station in Reyes’s home town of Utrera.

The fake Instagram profile – featuring several pictures of the footballer with Mrs Lopez and their daughters Noelia and Triana thought to have been copied from photos his widow posted on her official social media – was taken down overnight.

Reyes, 35, died after his Mercedes Brabus S550V went off the A-376 on June 1 near the town of Alcala de Guadaira close to Seville, overturned and burst into flames.

Reyes, 35, died after his Mercedes Brabus S550V went off the A-376 on June 1 near the town of Alcala de Guadaira close to Seville, overturned and burst into flames. Pictured: The aftermath

Regional government officials said the complaint had been made at a Civil Guard station in Reyes’s (pictured with Mrs Lopez at their wedding in 2017) home town of Utrera

His cousin Jonathan Reyes, 23, also died instantly in the horror crash and another cousin was seriously injured.

The post Mrs Lopez alerted fans to said in Spanish: ‘Hello, greetings to you and your family.

‘I hope you are having some much needed holidays.

The post Mrs Lopez alerted fans to said in Spanish: ‘I am Noelia Reyes, the wife of the ex-Arsenal and Spanish player Jose Antonio Reyes, who died two months ago, and I am raising money for me and my family, reaching out to the people who loved my husband and knew him as a good man’

‘I am Noelia Reyes, the wife of the ex-Arsenal and Spanish player Jose Antonio Reyes, who died two months ago, and I am raising money for me and my family, reaching out to the people who loved my husband and knew him as a good man.

‘Bringing up my children alone won’t be easy for me but I will do all I can because it is God’s purpose, because God knows best.’

The real Noelia Lopez added along the allegedly fraudulent post, made by someone using the name Noelia Reyes who used the footballer’s surname even though married women in Spain keep their birth surnames: ‘I don’t know who could be behind this account in which they are pretending to be me.

Noelia Lopez, the wife of former Arsenal star Jose Antonio Reyes, posted a touching message about her partner just days before his death

‘No-one knows the reality of the situation we are experiencing and the immense pain that comes with the loss of someone so important in a family.

‘Whatever my financial situation, I would never ask for help and especially in this way.

‘Thanks to God and my parents, we have food on our table every day.

‘I thank those who have made me aware of these messages.’

Well-wishers backed Mrs Lopez, with one calling the messages ‘detestable.’

Another added: ‘Sons of b**ches, wanting to profit like this.’

The suspect account, set up on Wednesday, had a message at the top which was partly based on the message the footballer’s widow uses on her genuine account and says in Spanish alongside two heart emojis.

It read: ‘I hope that when we see the night sky, you up there and me down here, you will always be in my heart. I will never forget you.’

Reyes was returning with his two passengers after a training session at Extremadura, the club he was playing for, to his home in Utrera.

The car was towed away on the back of a truck after it was pulled from crash site

The sports car was reduced to a crumpled heap after the horror smash near the Premier League-winning star’s hometown

He joined Arsenal in January 2004 and was part of the Invincibles side that went through the 2003-04 season unbeaten and won the Premier League.

Spanish sports paper El Mundo Deportivo reported two days after his death that he died after losing control of his Mercedes when it punctured while he was doing 147mph.

Local paper Diario de Sevilla, which said the vehicle had become a ball of fire, reported well-placed sources had said they thought Reyes may have been driving at around 120mph, some 50mph over the speed limit.

Authorities have said they believe excess speed was behind the accident but the police report into the crash is not thought to have been handed in yet to the investigating court probing the tragedy. 

Crowds gathered outside the Sevilla stadium – Reyes’ first professional home – as his coffin was carried into the stadium for a wake attended by Spanish footballing legends

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