Many women dream of Hollywood star Brad Pitt. Some apparently so much so that they fell for a scam used by scammers to take advantage of this desire.
According to Spanish media outlet Ideal, a lawyer for a middle-aged woman from Granada said his client received an email last year inviting her to join a Facebook fan club where admirers of the Hollywood star could meet. After a while she got the offer to write with Brad Pitt herself. Correspondence developed via e-mail, and then apparently even a love affair between the single woman and the actor was in the offing. But it was all fraud – in the end the Spaniard lost 170,000 euros.
“She was convinced she was dating Brad Pitt,” says her attorney. His client even confronted the actor when she saw him in the media with other women. The fake Brad Pitt kept asking her to transfer money to various accounts in Spain: at first just a few thousand euros, then up to 35,000 euros in one fell swoop. Why a big movie star with a fortune in the millions needed money from her – the victim did not seem to ask herself the question.
At the same time, the scammers behind the news kept the woman in line with big promises: As Brad Pitt, they promised her a film role in one of his upcoming productions, for which the actor would be in Spain soon – her looks made her suitable perfect for that. The scammers sent her photo montages of the 59-year-old man appearing to be holding signs with messages in Spanish at the camera. The alleged Brad Pitt even swore his love for her: he announced his visit and promised to propose marriage to her on this occasion. When no one showed up, the Spaniard knew she had been the victim of a scam.
“It’s not that she’s a millionaire, quite the opposite. She had recently inherited and therefore had the money,” her lawyer clarified. He described the scammers’ scam as follows: “They know when to show affection and when to make themselves scarce. And when to ask for money.” The attorney and the victim have filed suits alleging fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
This procedure, called “love scamming”, is well known and always leads to success. There was an almost identical case in Hamburg at the beginning of the year: there, too, strangers pretended a 55-year-old woman to be Brad Pitt, established a relationship online and promised her a wedding. The victim lost 160,000 euros.
Sources: “Ideal” / “Hamburger Abendblatt” / “El Pais”
Watch the video: Heidi and Robert of Pierce County, Washington, fell victim to a new type of artificial intelligence scam. Her 16-year-old daughter’s voice pleaded for help over the phone while an alleged kidnapper demanded a $10,000 ransom.
