Barcelona were conned out of €1m during Robert Lewandowski transfer by fraudster

Barcelona are not flush for cash at the moment, and have not been since before the Covid-19 pandemic. And while Joan Laporta’s opposition accuse him of incompetence, there were more than a few blushes saved by banking security back in 2022.

Cadena SER have revealed that during the transfer of Robert Lewandowski to the club from Bayern Munich, a fraudster nearly made off with €1m. The person in question passed themselves off as agent Pini Zahavi, who represents Lewandowski, and requested that the Blaugrana pay him €1m in commissions.

The Catalan giants obliged, depositing €1m in a Cypriot bank account. However after a few days, the Compliance department of the bank notified Barcelona of the unusual nature of the movement, with the account having never had any prior banking history – it was opened earlier in the month. They raised the issue with Zahavi, who clearly explained that it was not him. The bank were then able to intercept the transfer, and Barcelona got the money back into their account.