A woman from Granada, in southern Spain, who was convinced online that she was in love with her idol Brad Pitt, had €170,000 stolen over several months.
At least that’s what his lawyer, Antonio Estella Arizo, told the newspaper 20 minutos, translated by Capital, last week.
Through a Facebook group for Brad Pitt fans, the fraud victim was contacted by a fake profile posing as him using photos of the star.
With the help of photomontages showing, for example, the actor holding a white sheet on which personalized messages would have been written for the victim, the scammer would have managed to gain the trust of the woman with whom he regularly exchanged messages.
At the time, he is said to have asked her for money via bank transfer under various pretexts over the months and promised her a refund. In particular, he had promised her that he would come to her in Spain, but also to shoot a film with her, according to the Spanish media.
If many had discovered the rose pot from the start, it would have taken several months and 170,000 euros, the equivalent of more than 245,500 US dollars, for the victim to have raised the alarm with the police.
She would have reported fraud, identity theft and money laundering, said the “20 minutes”.