Fake ‘Brad Pitt’ scams 2 women in Spain of more than US$360,000; 5 people arrested

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-23 19:43:01 | Updated at 2024-09-30 23:39:04 1 week ago

Spanish police said on Monday that they had arrested five people accused of scamming two women of €325,000 euros (US$361,261) by posing as the Hollywood star Brad Pitt via online and WhatsApp messages.

The suspects made contact with the women on an internet page for fans of the Oscar-winning actor and led them to believe “they had a sentimental relationship with him”, Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said in a statement.

Posing as Pitt, the members of the gang then allegedly proposed that the women invest in various projects that did not exist.

The cybercriminals, to capture the victims, had studied their social networks and made a psychological profile of them, thus discovering that both women were two vulnerable people, lacking in affection and in a state of depression

Spain’s Guardia Civil police force

One woman, from the southern region of Andalusia, was defrauded of €175,000 (US$195,000) while the other, from the northern Basque Country, lost €150,000 (US$166, 725).

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