The Instruction Court 4 of Granada is keeping the procedure open after a resident of Granada reported last year that she had been the victim of an alleged scam of about 175,000 euros after making him believe in a group of scammers apparently She had an online relationship with American actor Brad Pitt, and that it was he who asked for the money. There are at least two other women who have been victims of fraud in Biscay, according to judicial sources consulted by Europa Press.
THE The investigation is continuing in case other people are involvedafter having been summary secret lifted initially decreed by the judicial authority, and within the framework of this, statements will be collected before the court from the victims and from the various investigators who were not arrested, with varying degrees of involvement in the events, they detailed these same sources.
It’s a complexity survey during which computer and cybercrime experts worked hard to download all available material from the seized computers and mobile phones, as detailed by judicial sources earlier this year.
This Monday, the Civil Guard announced that it had arrested a total of five people and investigated ten others belonging more to the framework of this case for alleged membership in a criminal organization which allegedly committed fraud 325,000 euros to two women by this method of the fake Brad Pitt, in an operation called Bralina, which was carried out in the provinces of Almeria, Malaga, Vizcaya, Barcelona, Madrid, Huelva, Seville and Granada, where the first complaint of a victim appeared.
During the investigation it was obtained locate, block and recover 85,000 euros of the total money swindled from two of the victims, one from Granada and another from Biscay. Likewise, five home searches were carried out, detailed by the Armed Institute.
Numerous mobile phones, prepaid bank and telephone cards, two personal computers and documentation were seized, including one diary in which he had noted the phrases used by the scammers.
The Civil Guard operation started in August 2023, when the woman who filed the complaint in Granada reported that she had been scammed out of 175,000 euros. Following the investigation, the agents discovered that there was a second victim in the province of Vizcaya who had also been scammed using the same method.
By continuing the investigation, the agents were able to verify how the cybercriminals had contacted the two victims via an alleged Internet platform for fans of actor Brad Pitt.
The prisoners managed to make these women believe that they had managed to establish an intimate relationship with the famous American actor, to the point that They thought they had a romantic relationship with him, and this fake Brad Pitt “offered them to invest with him in several projects, swindling the victim from Grenada out of 175,000 euros and the victim from Biscay out of 150,000 euros.”
The scammers studied their social networks
Cybercriminals, in order to capture their victims, would have previously studied their social networks and they would have made a psychological profile, thus discovering that the two women were apparently two people “vulnerable, with emotional deficiencies and in a depressed state.”
Similarly, they used instant messaging platforms to “exchange messages and emails with the two women until they reached a point where they They thought they were talking to Brad Pitt himself via WhatsAppwho promised them a romantic relationship and a future together.
When the level of trust was at its highest between the scammers and the victims, the fake actor offered them to invest with him in various business projects. They both played many money transfers until they discovered they had been scammed and reported the incident.
The Civil Guard has discovered that cybercriminals have created a network of bank accounts registered with falsified documents of people of African nationality such as Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone in which the swindled money was received.
Also so called They used “mules” that in exchange for a small sum of money, they received the swindled money and then transferred it to other accounts to launder it.
A prisoner in Malaga
After investigation, the operational phase of this operation began in November 2023 where they were Two people arrested in San Isidro de Níjar, Almeriawho were provisionally released, as detailed to Europa Press by the judicial sources consulted. The Civil Guard also arrested a third individual in Malaga for having received part of the swindled money in his bank accounts.
Between January and February 2024, the Civil Guard investigated three other individuals in Amorebieta, Biscay; one in Huelva, three in Sevilleone in Madrid, another in Barcelona and another in Granada. Finally, they were arrested in Torremolinos and Malaga respectively, the leaders of the dismantled criminal organization.
Are on bail after spending several months in prison after being placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, the aforementioned sources said on Tuesday.
Granada victim’s son stole 17,000 euros from him
During the investigation, officers also discovered that the victim’s son from Granada had made three fraudulent withdrawals using his mother’s bank card and He had stolen 17,000 euros from him, for which he was also arrested. Investigators rule out that the son had anything to do with the dismantled criminal organization.
The organization is responsible for the alleged crimes of qualified fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting documents and belonging to a criminal gang. The operation was carried out by the Technological Crimes Investigation Team of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police and the @ Team of the Civil Guard of Granada.
