Barcelona were tricked into sending €1million (£830,000) to a fraudster, who pretended to be working with the agent of star striker, Robert Lewandowski.
Barca signed Lewandowski from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 for an initial fee of €45m (£37m).
The Polish striker has banged in 71 goals in 106 matches for Barcelona since then to prove his worth to the team.
But behind the scenes there has been a serious issue, with a fraudster using the big-money transfer as a way to try and con Barca.
In the wake of the deal, Barcelona were contacted by someone who said they were working with Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi, and demanded €1m be transferred into a Cypriot bank account.
Someone using the false identity of Michael Hermanus Gerardus Demon, who claimed to be Lewandowski’s lawyer, was extremely persistent and Barcelona eventually agreed to pay. They sent the money to an account with the Banc de Xipre, but it was never released because the bank’s compliance department thought it was suspicious.
An investigation by Cadena SER revealed that the fraudster, who had no banking history with the Cypriot bank, was forced to prove their identity. Barcelona contacted Zahavi, who confirmed he had no knowledge of the person involved and the bank froze the money.
‘Mr Demon’ later threatened to go to UEFA if Barca didn’t pay up and also demanded further payments of €250,000 (£207,000) for their silence. Barcelona eventually got their money back from the Cypriot bank, but the Catalan police have not launched a criminal investigation because the club hasn’t submitted a formal complaint.
Barcelona confirmed to Cadena SER that the club had been the victims of an attempted fraud. The club said the incident has prompted them to reinforce their anti-fraud protocols.
It was a close miss for the Catalan giants, with huge sums involved in the situation. According to his contract, Lewandowski stands to earn €104m (£86m) over his four-year deal, 10 per cent of which (£10.4m) is due to his representatives.