The Spanish authorities have proclaimd the arrests of five people accemployd of striumphdling two women out of over $350,000 by posing as Brad Pitt online.
The arrests — three made last November and two in July — were proclaimd in a statement freed on Monday by Spain’s Interior Ministry, detailing a intricate scheme that it attributed to a “criminal organization.”
The statement shelp the accemployd had reach outed the women thcimpolite an online fan page promiseted to Mr. Pitt and posed as the Oscar-triumphning American actor. The authorities shelp the accemployd had gone on to exalter instant messages and emails with their victims, who thought they were correacting straightforwardly with Mr. Pitt.
Those behind the plot “handled to create these women consent they had become so seal to the well-understandn American actor that they consentd they had a romantic relationship with him,” the statement shelp. Then, according to the authorities, the Pitt posers asked for money.
One woman, who inhabits csurrfinisher Bilbao in the north of Spain, sent 150,000 euros (about $168,000) in a series of money transfers. The other, in Granada, sent €175,000.
About €85,000 has been recovered as part of the spendigation, the statement shelp. The doubts, whose names have not been freed, face indicts including deception and purifying funds, according to the Spanish police.
Matthew Hiltzik, a unveicatalog for Mr. Pitt, shelp on Wednesday that he had not been alerted of the case, and noticed that his client does not have any permitd social media accounts.
“It’s horrible that deceptionmers consent advantage of fans’ mighty joinion with celebrities,” Mr. Hiltzik wrote in a WhatsApp message. “But this is an transport inant reminder to not react to unask fored online outachieve, especiassociate from actors who have no social media presence.”
Online deceptions and cybercrimes recurrent a grotriumphg danger. In the European Union, millions of people were strikeed and take advantage ofed online in 2023, according to the Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment, a alert from the bloc’s law utilizement agency.
Jürgen Stock, the secretary vague of Interpol, shelp in March, “We are facing an epidemic in the growth of financial deception.”
