Police in Spain have arrested a group of criminals who scammed their targets by posing as Brad Pitt.

The group had targeted two women and conned them out of €325,000, around $361,000.

In a statement, Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said that the group posed as the Oscar-winning actor online and led the women to think that ‘they had a sentimental relationship with him’.

After developing the fake relationship with the women, the scammers then suggested that they invest in a number of projects.

The problem was that these projects did not actually exist, and the criminals could simply steal the money.

Two women were defrauded by the scam, with one in the southern region Andalusia losing €175,000 (around $194,000) and another in the northern Basque Country losing €150,000 (around $166,000).

Police shared that the criminals had studied their marks’ networks and profiled them before acting.

The fraudsters posed as Brad Pitt (Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)

In a statement, police said: “The cybercriminals, to capture the victims, had studied their social networks and made a psychological profile of them, thus discovering that both women were two vulnerable people, lacking in affection and in a state of depression.”

They added that the criminals had even led their marks to believe they were speaking to Brad Pitt.

The statement continued: “They also used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women until they reached a point where they believed they were chatting via WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future together.”

Five people in were arrested in Andalusia in connection with the case, including people suspected by police to be the group’s leaders.

A number of mobile phones and bank cards were seized from five homes, as well as a diary ‘in which the phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims were written down’.

The scammers made promises about a romantic relationship (Kinga Krzeminska / Getty)

Officers also recovered money which was defrauded from the two women totalling €85,000, or around $94,500.

Online scams are a huge danger, with fraudsters often using very sophisticated and manipulative means to defraud their targets.

One man lost his entire life savings of $715,000 after being tricked by a scammer online.

The man, who was not named, was targeted by someone posing as a 37-year-old Chinese woman living in San Francisco.

After building up trust, the scammers would use emotional blackmail when their target began to get suspicious or not comply with their demands.

Unfortunately, once he sent over his money for an ‘investment’, he never heard from them again.

There is no questioning that a lot of folks would dream of being rich and famous, though that is not exactly within the realms of possibility.

The next best thing is perhaps living that lifestyle for a day or more, and one elderly man got to experience just that thanks to Brad Pitt.

The legendary actor allowed his elderly neighbor to live in his $40 million house rent free until he passed away.

Presley Ann/Getty Images for DAOU Family Estates

Pitt didn’t intentionally set out to become a landlord when he bought the lavish home back in 1994 – but his later gesture certainly warmed a lot of people’s hearts.

The Mr and Mrs Smith actor paid just $1.7 million when he purchased the property from Elvira star Cassandra Peterson.

After spending the better part of three decades at the residence, Pitt noticed that the area was becoming increasingly built up.

It’s then that he took pity on his elderly neighbour, as Peterson recalled in an interview with People: “I think there were like 22 houses that were contiguous to the edge of the property. And every time they came up he bought one.”

Peterson claimed one of those properties belonged to an elderly man in his early nineties and Pitt ended up striking up a deal with him that allowed the senior to stay in the residency.

“He was very, very kind to the husband. His wife passed away and the husband, John, lived there,” she continued.

“I know that Brad allowed him to live there without paying anything until he died.”

Joking about the fact that the arrangement continued slightly longer than expected, Peterson added: “It was kind of funny because John lived to be 105.”

Kym Illman/Getty Images

She continued, saying that John ‘just kept living forever,’ before saying: “I imagine Brad was thinking well, you know, he can live there till he dies, which might be any minute now.”

Peterson, who became Pitt’s neighbor after selling her property to him, shared her own experiences with Pitt throughout the years.

“I go past Brad’s garage and he’s in there wearing only sweatpants. He’s got on boxing gloves and he is punching a bag. I swear I almost fainted.

“I remember he goes, ‘Hey, how are you?’ and I’m like, ‘Huh?’ I couldn’t talk. I was turning red. I felt like I was fainting.

“He’s just so stunningly, stunningly handsome — and nice, to top it off,” she concluded.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter Shiloh has reportedly been granted her name change.

The 18-year-old, who was born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, first filed to drop ‘Pitt’ from her last name on her 18th birthday in May this year.

According to court orders obtained by People magazine, Shiloh has been granted her request and will now legally go by Shiloh Jolie.

The 18-year-old’s legal name is now Shiloh Jolie. (JC Olivera/Getty Images)

According to the California Court, if a person wishes to change their legal name in the state of California there are four steps they must follow. First is to file a petition in court. Second is to publish a four-week long notice in a newspaper. Third is to attend a hearing (if required), and the fourth and final step is to obtain a decree should the judge approve the request.

In July, Shiloh published an announcement in the Los Angeles Times saying that she had filed to change her name to ‘Shiloh Jolie.’ As per California law, a judge can approve a petition when the legal forms have been published in a newspaper’s legal notice section for one month.

Shiloh first filed the petition in May 2024. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

That same month however, her petition to change her name was reportedly postponed after an incomplete background check delayed the hearing.

“Unfortunately, the court was unable to complete the background check ahead of today’s hearing, so the hearing was rescheduled for August 19,” her lawyer Peter Levine said in a statement obtained by People at the time.

“Everyone undergoing a name-change request needs to have a background check conducted by the court clerk, and because of clerical error, Shiloh’s hearing has been continued to a new date,” he added about the 18-year-old’s completion of the third step of the process.

Pitt is reportedly ‘aware’ of the situation. (Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images for Turner)

Per a report published by People today (August 19), Shiloh’s request has now been cleared.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016. The former couple share six children together: Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

In May it was reported that Vivienne also dropped ‘Pitt’ from her last name in a Playbill credit for Broadway musical The Outsiders, which her mother produced.

Shortly after Shiloh initially petitioned to change her legal name in May, an insider source close to Pitt confirmed that the actor was ‘aware’ of the change.

Shiloh completed California’s four-step process to achieve the name change. (JC Olivera/Getty Images)

“He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name,” they said. “The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them.”

UNILAD reached out to representatives of Pitt for comment who declined to comment.

It seems things between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are growing increasingly more heated.

The two Hollywood legends were in a relationship for over a decade, but were only married for two years.

Salt favourite Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 and alleged that Pitt was abusive towards her and their children on a flight from France to California earlier that same year.

Pitt has always denied the allegations against him.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split up in 2016. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

While their divorce proceedings remain ongoing (and don’t look to resolved anytime soon), a judge ruled the pair legally single back in 2019.

Their ongoing legal battles largely relate to the custody of their six children (all of whom are aged 16 and over), their estate and their French winery, Chateau Miraval.

The former celebrity couple purchased the winery together in 2008, with Jolie having since sold her share to a subsidiary of Stoli Group owned by a Russian oligarch.

According to Pitt, 60, this went against an agreement they had to not sell their shares of the winery without each other’s permission – but Jolie, 49, has insisted that this agreement never existed.

Pitt went on to sue his ex for selling her stake and the lawsuit is still unfolding.

Pitt and Jolie are in a legal dispute over Chateau Miraval, which they used to co-own. (MICHEL GANGNE/AFP via Getty Images)

New court documents regarding the suit were filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where Jolie’s attorneys accused Ad Astra actor Pitt of trying to get their client to sign an $8.5 million non-disclosure agreement.

In the documentation obtained by PEOPLE, Jolie’s attorneys insisted that Jolie ‘was not acting with malice and the intent to hurt Pitt in response to any custody ruling’.

Allegedly, Pitt refused to buy her stake in the winery ‘unless he received his newly expanded NDA, enforceable by an $8.5 million holdback specifically designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up’.

Brad Pitt is being accused of asking his ex wife to sign an NDA. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Jolie’s attorneys additionally said: “While Pitt advances what is effectively an outdated privacy-of-domestic-violence argument to shield his abuse, his argument is not the law, at least not in this century, and he cites no authority that would give him such unwarranted protections.

“In any event, he waived any privacy protections when he sued Jolie.”

While the NDA is reported to be in relation to the alleged abuse Jolie suffered and cited as the actress’ reason for deciding to sell stake in the winery to a third-party, court documents obtained by UNILAD show that Pitt’s legal team say the NDA in question ‘had nothing to do with the divorce or the children’.

The question remains ‘whether Jolie truly withdrew from the negotiations with Pitt because of the NDA he requested’.