Dubai embezzler busted for posing as Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt

DUBAI - A salesman tried to fleece a money exchanger in the United Arab Emirates by using an identity card bearing the picture of Hollywood heart-throb Brad Pitt, a local newspaper reported today.

The Gulf News said the 29-year-old Jordanian had been told by his brother, who worked at the Dubai money exchange, that more than $23,000 in cash had been transferred to the bureau for a client who had not picked it up for more than three months.

The Jordanian then forged an ID using the client's name and a picture of Pitt. He hoped his brother would then be able to hand over the cash and keep a photocopy of the fake ID as record of the transfer.

The man, who was arrested on a tip from an informant, told police when he was caught that he did not know whose picture he had downloaded from the internet. The Dubai prosecutor's office has charged the man with forgery and attempted embezzlement.

- REUTERS