Five fraudsters who scammed two women out of €325,000 by impersonating Brad Pitt have been arrested in Spain. The criminals tricked the victims by convincing them that they had captured the heart of “Hollywood’s most handsome man.”
The fake Brad Pitt persuaded the women to invest in joint projects. Before executing the scam, the fraudsters carefully studied the victims’ social media profiles and crafted psychological profiles.
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They discovered that both women were suffering from depressive disorders, making them more vulnerable to manipulation, according to reports from LaSexta.
Authorities managed to recover €85,000 of the stolen money for the victims. The investigation into the criminal group began in 2023, but the leader was only apprehended this year. The fraudsters had created a web of bank accounts using the identities of citizens from African countries.
Scams involving impersonations of celebrities to steal money or personal information are not uncommon. Here’s a look at some notable cases where scammers used famous names to deceive people:
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- Dmitry Malikov (Russian singer): A scammer tried to trick one of his friends out of a large sum of money, pretending to be Malikov. The artist’s close friendship with the person exposed the fraud, as she directly contacted him to confirm if he needed money.
- Concert Fraud: A scammer pretending to be the concert director of a well-known singer took advance payments for performances in several cities. The shows never happened, and the fraudster vanished with the money.
- Yaroslav Dronov (Shaman): Fraudsters impersonated Dronov online, offering free tickets to his concerts. In other cities, fake posters for Shaman’s concerts were put up, leading the singer to issue a statement warning fans about the deception.
These incidents highlight the growing sophistication of scams that use celebrity identities to prey on victims, and authorities are working to crack down on this type of fraud.