A representative for Brad Pitt has weighed in on the online scams that led to five people being arrested after they defrauded two women of more than $350,000 and convinced them they were having affairs with the actor.
The Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced in a statement statement that five individuals were arrested and were linked to a “criminal organization” and posed as fake Brads to get women to hand over large amounts of money.
Matthew Hiltzik, the 60-year-old actor’s representative, said People that it was “terrible that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities” and reminded followers “not to respond to unsolicited online messages.”
“Especially from actors who don’t have a social media presence,” they told the magazine on Wednesday.
The five individuals led the two Spanish women, who were not identified, to believe “that they had become so close to the well-known American actor that they believed they were in a romantic relationship with him,” according to the statement.
Matthew Hiltzik, the 60-year-old actor’s representative, told People it was “horrible that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection to celebrities” and reminded fans “not to respond to unsolicited online communications.”
During the investigation, the police recovered ‘numerous mobile phones, bank cards, prepaid telephone cards, two personal computers and seized documents, including a diary in which the phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims were noted’.
They exchanged instant messages and emails with the scammers before demanding large sums of money from them.
A message read, according to the The Times of London: ‘My love for you is true. I feel it from the heart and forever. Please forgive me and accept me… it’s because I love you and I’m so in love with you.’
One of the women, who lived in Vizcaya, in the north of the country, sent more than $168,000 in multiple transfers to the scammers, while the other woman, from Granada, sent around $195,000.
To make matters worse, police discovered that the Granada victim’s son also stole $19,000 from his mother and made three fraudulent charges on her bank card. He was arrested, but was found to have no connection to the organized crime group.
According to the ministry, around $95,000 of the women’s money has been recovered.
Police began their investigation into the scammers after the Granada woman reported that she had been scammed out of thousands of dollars in August 2023, which eventually led them to discover a second victim.
They found that the scammers contacted the women through an online fan page and convinced them to send money to invest in various “business projects,” according to the ministry.
Investigators also discovered that the scammers had researched the women and found them to be “vulnerable individuals with emotional deficiencies and in a depressive state,” making them perfect targets.
The Spanish Interior Ministry announced in a statement that five people were arrested and that they were linked to a “criminal organisation” and were posing as fake Brads to get women to hand over large amounts of money.
“They also used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women to the point where they believed they were talking on WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future together,” the ministry said.
The Civil Guard has discovered that cybercriminals have created a “network of bank account records with falsified documents of people of African nationalities such as Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone, where they receive the scammed money.”
They also used ‘mules’, who received the money in exchange for a small payment and then transferred the funds to other accounts to launder it.
During the investigation, ‘numerous mobile phones, bank cards, prepaid telephone cards, two personal computers and documents were seized, including a diary in which the phrases used by the scammers to deceive their victims were noted’.
Two of the fraudsters were arrested in November in San Isidro de Níjar and a third in Málaga.
The two leaders of the dismantled criminal organisation were subsequently arrested in Malaga, the Ministry reported.
The criminal group has been accused of qualified fraud, money laundering, document forgery and gang membership.
Cybercrime is on the rise in the European Union, with Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock calling it an “epidemic”.
Millions of Europeans will be victims of fraud due to online crime in 2023, according to the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment report.
Through nearly 5,000 investigations, Europol helped stop the loss of nearly $36 million in 2023, the report said.
Pitt isn’t the only Hollywood star who has had to remind fans not to ask for money, as Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Hanks also did.
Florence Pugh, who recently admitted she is in a relationship, had to take to her Instagram Story in August to “remind” fans that “I don’t have any other account other than this one” and that the only official communication would come from that page.
“I have been made aware that some people have been asked for money/photos/communication through pages impersonating me,” the 28-year-old wrote.