This group managed to target two women and tricked them out of €325,000, which is around $361,000.
According to a statement from Spain’s Guardia Civil police force, the scammers posed as the famous Oscar-winning actor online.
Once the fake relationships were established, the scammers convinced the women to invest in various projects.
However, these projects didn’t exist, and the criminals were simply pocketing the money.
Police explained that the scammers had carefully studied their targets’ social media accounts.
They created detailed psychological profiles of the women before striking.
The scammers went so far as to convince the women they were chatting with Brad Pitt himself.
In connection to the case, police arrested five people in Andalusia, including those believed to be the ringleaders.
Additionally, they recovered €85,000 (around $94,500) of the money stolen from the two women.
Online scams like this one are an increasing threat, with fraudsters often using very sophisticated tactics to manipulate their victims.
The man, who remains unnamed, was approached by someone pretending to be a 37-year-old Chinese woman living in San Francisco.
After building trust, the scammer used emotional blackmail when the man began to grow suspicious or hesitated to follow through with their demands.
Sadly, after he sent over his money for an “investment,” he never heard from the scammer again.
