Spain: Police arrest five people for tricking women of $360,000 by posing as Brad Pitt

Spanish police arrested five people on Monday (Sep 23) for scamming two women of 325,000 euros ($361,261) by posing as Hollywood star Brad Pitt via online and WhatsApp messages.

The suspects made contact with the women via a fan page of the Oscar-winning actor and made them believe that “they had a sentimental relationship with him,” Spain’s Guardia Civil police said in a statement on Monday.

The members of the gang, posing as Pitt, allegedly encouraged the women to invest in various projects related to the Hollywood star that did not exist in real.

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One woman, from the southern region of Andalusia, was defrauded of €175,000 ($195,000), while the other, from the northern Basque Country, lost €150,000 ($ 170,000).

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“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,” police said.

The fraudsters also used instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp to exchange messages and emails with the two women until they reached a point where they believed they were chatting via WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future together.

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The Spanish police arrested five people in the southern region of Andalusia, including suspected leaders of the gang.

Police raided five homes in the area, as part of their operations, seizing several mobile phones, bank cards, two computers and even a diary full of careful and targeted phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims.

Officers were able to recover €85,000 ($ 95,000) defrauded from the two women.

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In a similar online fraud case, an Australian man was arrestedfor posing as a famous YouTuber and blackmailing hundreds of girls online. The 29-year-old Muhammad Zain Ul Abideen Rasheed manipulated over 250 victims around the globe into performing explicit acts on camera.

While sentencing Rasheed to 17 years in jail, a Perth District Court judge termed his at as "one of the most severe sextortion cases in the history of Australia."

(With inputs from agencies)