The organization targeted two ladies and deceived them out of €325,000 (about $361,000.)
In a statement, Spain’s Guardia Civil police unit stated that the gang posed as the Oscar-winning actor online, leading the ladies to believe that ‘they had an emotional relationship with him’.
After establishing the fictitious friendship with the women, the fraudsters offered that they invest in several ventures.
The problem was that these projects did not exist, so thieves could simply steal the money.
The scheme scammed two ladies, one in the southern area of Andalusia losing €175,000 (about $194,000) and the other in the northern Basque Country losing €150,000 (approximately $166,000).
Police revealed that the offenders researched their targets’ networks and profiled them before acting.
Police released the following statement: “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.”
They further claimed that the perpetrators had misled their victims into believing they were conversing with Brad Pitt.
The declaration continued: “They also used instant messaging platforms 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.”
Authorities detained five people in Andalusia in connection with the investigation, including those they accused of being the group’s leaders.
Five residences yielded a number of mobile phones, bank cards, and a notebook containing “phrases used by fraudsters to deceive their victims.”
Officers also collected €85,000 (about $94,500) in fraudulent money from the two ladies.
Online scams are a major threat, and fraudsters frequently employ highly clever and deceptive methods to deceive their victims.
A fraudster online duped one man out of his entire life savings of $715,000.
Someone posing as a 37-year-old Chinese woman living in San Francisco targeted the unnamed man.
After establishing confidence, the fraudsters used emotional blackmail when their victim became suspicious or refused to comply with their demands.
Unfortunately, after sending his money for an ‘investment’, he never heard from them again.