Scammers accused of defrauding Spanish women of €325,000 by posing as Brad Pitt

One woman, based in Northern Spain, told police she had been conned out of €150,000

Spanish police said scammers contacted the women through a fan page for Brad Pitt. Picture: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP

Five people have been arrested in Spain accused of defrauding two women of a total of €325,000 by posing as Hollywood actor Brad Pitt online.

In a statement, Spain's Guardia Civil said the suspects contacted the women via a fan page for the Oscar-winner. Posing as the actor, the scammers then encouraged the women to invest their money in various bogus commercial projects, and manipulated them with the promise of a romantic relationship.

Spanish police were first alerted to the case in August 2023 when they were contacted by a woman from Andalusia who had fallen victim to the scam. A second woman, based in the Basque country in Northern Spain, also came forward saying she had been conned out of €150,000.

Police described the targets of the scams as "vulnerable" and said the cybercriminals had studied their targets' social media profiles and manipulated them through text and WhatsApp conversations with a conversation script.

#OperacionesGC | 5 personas detenidas por #estafa 325 mil euros a dos mujeres por el método conocido como #FalsoBradPitt

▶️Se ha investigado también 10 personas pertenecientes a la #organizacióncriminal y se ha conseguido localizar y bloquear 85 mil euros del dinero total… pic.twitter.com/qc4AouztgO

— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) September 23, 2024

Spanish police have raided five homes as part of their operation targeting the cybercriminals, seizing mobile devices, bank cards, two computers and ledger in which pre-scripted phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims were recorded.

The five suspected scammers were taken into custody in Andalusia on Monday. Two of those arrested are reportedly the leaders of the group of cybercriminals. Ten others are being investigated as part of the police probe. 

€85,000 of the money stolen has so far been recovered from accounts originating in the Spanish provinces of Almeria, Malaga, Vizcaya, Barcelona, Granada, Madrid, Huelva and Seville.

Additional reporting: The Guardian