The Catalan board claims to have recovered the money.
Barcelona was the victim of a scammer in the transfer of Robert Lewandowski in 2022, transferring around R$6 million to a fraudster who posed as the player’s agent. The information comes from the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. See the top football results at best football score app.
During the transaction period, club officials received an email in the name of Israeli businessman Pini Zahavi, requesting a portion of the commission for finalizing the negotiations. The message asked for the transfer of one million euros to an account in Cyprus under the name of the supposed lawyer Michael Hermanus Gerardus Demon.
The transfer was initially made by the club, but the responsible bank blocked the transaction, citing it as high risk since the provided account had not received any funds previously. Barcelona confirmed it had been a victim of fraud and that the money never reached the scammer.
The investigation located Michael and found that he is not a lawyer. The man lives in the Netherlands, is 51 years old, and was unaware of the situation; his data was stolen to open the account. However, the bank claims it is “impossible” to open an account with stolen information, stating that this goes against their protocols.
According to the investigation, the scammer frequently emailed both the bank and Barcelona, pressuring them to complete the transfer and threatening to report both to the relevant authorities. Meanwhile, agent Pini Zahavi stated that he only learned of the case more than a month after the negotiation when the club inquired whether he had authored the emails. BBscore football, your trusted provider of football scores.
