Spanish crime ring arrested for impersonating Brad Pitt online
Brad Pitt’s name has unexpectedly become at the centre of a story about a Spanish crime ring. Local authorities have revealed that five people were arrested this year and face fraud and money laundering charges after impersonating the actor. Under the guise of Pitt’s celebrity, they scammed the victims out of over $350,000.
The news broke when Spain’s Interior Ministry released a statement on September 23rd. It revealed that three online scammers were arrested last November, and two more were later arrested in July, 2024.
As reported by the New York Times, they wrote, “The statement said the accused had contacted the women through an online fan page dedicated to Mr. Pitt and posed as the Oscar-winning American actor. The authorities said the accused had gone on to exchange instant messages and emails with their victims, who thought they were corresponding directly with Mr. Pitt.”
Once talking to these women, the scammers made them believe they were speaking directly to Pitt and building a relationship with him. They gained the women’s trust in order to exploit that and extort them. The scammers “managed to make these women believe they had become so close to the well-known American actor that they believed they had a romantic relationship with him,” the statement added.
Once that ‘relationship’ was established, they began to ask for money. One woman sent the scammers around $168,000, and another sent approximately $195,500. So far, only $94,000 has been recovered as part of the investigation.
Pitt has been made aware of this incident and the fact that his name and status were involved. His publicist Matthew Hiltzik issued a statement to The New York Times, reading, “It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities.”
However, Pitt’s team used their comment to remind fans to be safe online when it comes to fake accounts. This tactic is seen time and time again as scammers exploit the connection between celebrities and their fans, using people’s desire to connect with people they admire to exploit and extort them. In the statement, they said, “This is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.”
They also confirmed Pitt has no social media profiles on Instagram, X (formally known as Twitter) or any other platform.
Meanwhile, Pitt recently reunited with George Clooney for Wolfs, which is set to stream on Apple TV+ from September 27th. The movie sees the two Ocean’s stars portray pair of veteran fixers who always work alone. Naturally, when they both end up being assigned to the same job, they’re forced to put aside their personal and professional differences in favour of achieving a common goal.
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