It’s a scam worth several hundred thousand euros. Five people have been arrested in Spain for having extorted 325,000 euros from two “vulnerable” and “depressed” women by pretending online and on WhatsApp to be Brad Pitt, police announced on Monday.
The suspects contacted their alleged victims on a website aimed at fans of the American actor. Over time, they managed to make them believe “that they had a romantic relationship with him,” the Guardia Civil said.
Help from social media information
Posing as the actor, the gang members then allegedly offered the women to invest in various projects that did not exist. One woman from Andalusia was scammed out of 175,000 euros while another, who lives in the Basque Country, lost 150,000 euros.
“The cybercriminals (…) studied their social networks and drew up their psychological profiles, discovering that the two women were (…) vulnerable, with emotional deficiencies and a depressive state,” according to the police. “They also used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women until they believed they were chatting via WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself,” the latter promising them “a romantic relationship and a future together.”
Sentences prepared in advance
Police arrested five suspected members of the gang in Andalusia, including the alleged leaders, and were able to recover 85,000 euros of the total amount swindled.
During the searches, investigators seized several mobile phones, bank cards, two personal computers and a diary “in which were recorded the phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims.”
Source: www.20minutes.fr
