In the summer of 2022, FC Barcelona and Robert Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi, fell victim to an attempted scam during the transfer process for the Polish striker.

A scammer, posing as Zahavi, convinced Barcelona to transfer €1 million to an account at the Bank of Cyprus. The account listed a supposed lawyer named Michael Gerardus Hermanus Demon as the beneficiary, and it had been created just before the scam attempt.

The email sent to Barcelona appeared legitimate, containing accurate banking details such as the IBAN and SWIFT codes, prompting the club to proceed with the transfer.

However, the bank’s compliance department flagged the transaction as high risk and blocked the payment, preventing the money from reaching its intended recipient.

In the following weeks, the impersonator tried to pressure the bank and Barcelona to release the funds, even threatening to report the club to UEFA if the demand wasn’t met.

Luckily, the bank authorities kept the account frozen, and Barcelona was able to recover the money, later acknowledging they had been victims of fraud.

After the scam was uncovered, the real Pini Zahavi confirmed he had no knowledge of the person involved or the lawyer mentioned in the emails. Zahavi also stated that he had never requested his commission to be paid into a Cypriot account. Barcelona, in turn, reinforced their security protocols to prevent future incidents like this.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the club did not file a formal complaint with the police. Investigations revealed that the individual behind the Cypriot account had used forged documents to open it.