Fake Brad Pitt scams 352,000 euros from two Spanish women

The suspects contacted the women on a website for fans of the Oscar-winning actor and led them to believe they “had a romantic relationship with him,” Spain’s Guardia Civil police said in a statement.

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

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

“Cybercriminals, in order to capture the victims, studied their social networks and psychologically profiled them, thus discovering that both women were vulnerable, affectionless and depressed,” the police said.

“They also used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women, to the point where they believed they were talking on WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a relationship romance and a future together.”

Police arrested five people in the southern region of Andalusia, including the group’s suspected leaders.

They raided five homes as part of their operations, seizing several mobile phones, bank cards, two computers and a diary “which contained phrases used by scammers to trick their victims”.

The officers managed to recover 85,000 euros of the money that was defrauded from the two women.