Barcelona became the target of a scam during Robert Lewandowski’s transfer from Bayern Munich in 2022. A fraudster impersonating Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi, demanded £830,000 as a commission for completing the deal.
The club transferred the money to a Bank of Cyprus account under a fake name, but the bank flagged the transaction as high risk and blocked it due to suspicious details.
Despite the scammer’s attempts to pressure Barcelona by threatening to report the club to UEFA and block Lewandowski’s registration, the club recovered the money.
They have since reported the fraudster to the police after receiving additional demands for around £210,000.