Five people have been arrested in Europe, accused of posing as Brad Pitt on social media and scamming around $350K from two women in Spain. The accused reportedly contacted the women involved through a Brad Pitt online fan page. Pitt, 60, has no official social media.
According to Spanish police, the two victims communicated with someone they believed was Pitt through emails and instant messages, and were led to think they were in a romantic relationship with the actor. The victims were then asked for money, The New York Times reported. Variety says one woman lost about $168,000, while the other lost about $195,500. Amid the ongoing investigation, only about $95,000 had been recovered.
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities,” Matthew Hiltzik, Pitt’s publicist, wrote in a WhatsApp message to The Times. “But this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence,” Hiltzik added.
The five people arrested are believed to have ties to a criminal organization, Spanish police said. Three were arrested in Nov. 2023, and two more were arrested in July. They are charged with fraud and money laundering, according to Spanish authorities. Pitt has not commented on the situation.
The criminals targeted vulnerable women
The cybercriminals specifically targeted the two women in the case after studying their online presence, and because they were lonely and vulnerable, and “in a state of depression,” according to a statement from Spanish police translated to English (via The Guardian). Authorities recovered the criminals’ cell phones, bank cards, computers, and a journal in which they reportedly tracked their correspondence with the two victims.
One message sent to one of the women, as Pitt, reportedly read, “My love for you is true. Feeling from my heart and forever, please forgive me and accept me … it is because I love you and am very much in love with you,” according to The Times of London.
The Times of London also says that one woman had recently been defrauded by her son, who made fraudulent charges on her bank card in an unrelated case. Her son has also been arrested. Meanwhile, just one year earlier, a woman lost about $190,000 to someone posing as Pitt on Facebook who offered her a chance to co-star with Pitt in a film.
“An epidemic” in online fraud
According to INTERPOL, online, tech-based fraud through ransomware, phishing, and AI is a growing problem, and romance-based fraud is common. In 2022, INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) recovered about $500 million in the U.S. alone from similar schemes.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said that technology changes, the increased scale and complexity of organized crime, and cryptocurrencies have made addressing these crimes even more urgent, and explained their rapid growth. Stock urged victims who believe cybercriminals have contacted them to file police reports.
“We are facing an epidemic in the growth of financial fraud, leading to individuals, often vulnerable people, and companies being defrauded on a massive and global scale,” Stock said. “It is important that there are no safe havens for financial fraudsters to operate. We must close existing gaps and ensure information sharing between sectors and across borders is the norm, not the exception,” Stock added.