It has been revealed that FC Barcelona were duped in a shocking scam involving striker Robert Lewandowski and a hefty €1 million (R19.2 million).
Barca's financial issues are well-publicised, with their poor fiscal situation dating back to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The situation only got worse after pandemic, forcing the club to let go of some of their biggest players, including Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Antoine Griezmann.
In July 2022, the club bought Lewandowski from Bayern Munich in a deal worth €45 million (R876 million) after the striker forced his way out of the Bavarian giants, leaving his relations with the German outfit strained.
It has since been discovered that some fraudulent activity took place during the transfer, with Barca reportedly having narrowly escaped a scam that would have seen them lose €1 million.
According to Football Espana, a scammer who presented himself as Lewandowski's agent Pini Zahavi almost successfully conned the club into paying him the amount as a commission fee.
It is said the Blaugrana actually went as far as making the payment to a Cypriot bank account provided by the scammer, but fortunately, a few days later, the compliance department of the bank notified Barcelona of the unusual nature of the transaction.
The fraudulent account had no prior banking history, and was opened less than a month before Barca made the commission fee deposit.
Zahavi was then contacted, at which point he stated that he had no connection with the said bank account.
The bank then intercepted the transaction and the funds were returned to Barcelona's coffers.
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While the LALIGA giants were lucky to escape the scam unscathed, questions have been raised over the club's due diligence protocols.