Barcelona Lose €1m To Scammer Posing As Lewandowski’s Lawyer

Barcelona Football Club recently fell victim to a major fraud incident, losing €1 million (around £830,000) to a scammer who impersonated someone connected to star striker Robert Lewandowski’s agent.

The fraudster, posing as Lewandowski’s lawyer, deceived the club into making a substantial transfer following the player’s high-profile move to Barcelona.

Lewandowski joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in 2022, in a deal worth an initial €45 million (£37 million). He has since become a pivotal player for the team, scoring 71 goals in 106 matches.

However, a serious issue unfolded behind the scenes, as a scammer took advantage of this major transfer to target the club.

After the transfer, Barcelona was contacted by an individual who claimed to be associated with Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi. This person, using the false name Michael Hermanus Gerardus Demon, pretended to be Lewandowski’s lawyer and requested €1 million to be transferred to a bank account in Cyprus. Despite some hesitation, Barcelona eventually made the payment, sending the money to Banc de Xipre.

Luckily, the bank’s compliance team flagged the transaction as suspicious and froze the funds, preventing the fraudster from accessing the money. An investigation by Cadena SER revealed that the fraudster had no previous banking history with the Cypriot bank. When asked for identification, Barcelona contacted Zahavi, who confirmed that he had no knowledge of the individual in question. As a result, the bank permanently froze the funds.

Following this, the fraudster, still pretending to be “Mr. Demon,” threatened to report Barcelona to UEFA and demanded an additional €250,000 (£207,000) to stay silent. Fortunately, Barcelona was able to recover the €1 million from the Cypriot bank.

Despite the close call, no criminal investigation has been launched by the Catalan police, as the club has not officially filed a complaint. Barcelona has confirmed the attempted fraud to Cadena SER and stated that they have since improved their anti-fraud measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

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