The Spanish Civil Guard have arrested 5 folks accused of scamming two girls of 350,000 euros by posing because the Hollywood star Brad Pitt by way of on-line and WhatsApp messages.
According to the press assertion launched by the Civil Guard the suspects made contact with the ladies on an web web page for followers of the Oscar-winning actor and led them to imagine “they’d a sentimental relationship with him”, Spain’s Guardia Civil police drive mentioned in an announcement.
Posing as Pitt, the members of the gang then allegedly proposed that the ladies put money into numerous tasks that didn’t exist.
One girl, from the province of Granada in Andalucia, was defrauded of 175,000 Euros whereas the opposite, from the Basque Country, misplaced 150,000 euros.
“The cybercriminals, to seize the victims, had studied their social networks and made a psychological profile of them, thus discovering that each girls have been two susceptible folks, missing in affection and in a state of despair,” police mentioned.
“They additionally used immediate messaging platforms to change messages and emails with the 2 girls till they reached some extent the place they believed they have been chatting by way of WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future collectively.”
Police arrested 5 folks within the southern area of Andalusia, together with the suspected leaders of the group.
They raided 5 houses as a part of their operations, seizing a number of cellphones, financial institution playing cards, two computer systems and a diary “wherein the phrases utilized by the fraudsters to deceive their victims have been written down”.
Officers have been capable of get better 85,000 Euros of the cash that was defrauded from the 2 girls.
