Brad Pitt's Fake ID

Jordanian man arrested for forgery and attempted embezzlement after using ID card bearing Brad Pitt's picture to collect $23,000 from Dubai money exchange

By Gina Serpe Jun 29, 2006 3:35 PMTags

Forget Namibia--if Brad Pitt really doesn't want to be recognized, he should head over to the United Arab Emirates.

A Jordanian salesman was arrested for forgery and attempted embezzlement in Dubai this week after using a doctored identification card bearing a photo of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith star to try and collect more than $23,000 from a currency exchange bureau.

The 29-year-old man, referred to by the Gulf News simply as T.H., claimed ignorance over Pitt's visage, saying he didn't know who the actor was and that he had simply downloaded a random photo off the internet.

Apparently, Us Weekly has yet to hit the Middle East.

According to Gulf News, the wannabe Pitt doppelganger was arrested at a mall in Ghusais after an informant divulged the man's get-rich-quick scheme to police.

The Pitt poser was allegedly working in conjunction with his brother, ID'd by the paper simply as H.H., who worked in the Dubai money exchange. The teller reportedly told his brother of a money transfer of more than $23,000 which had arrived at the bureau more than three months prior and had yet to be claimed.

In an attempt to collect the unclaimed sum, the Jordanian mocked up a fake ID card bearing the name of the man to whom the money had been transferred along with the photo of Pitt.

The man later told police he was planning on leaving a photocopy of the ID with his brother in order to get the cash and prevent it from being traced back to him.

However, he had not yet had the chance to enact the old switcheroo when he was picked up by local cops.

The Dubai Public Prosecution has charged the man with forgery, using a fake document and attempted embezzlement.

As for Pitt, it's the second photo snafu of the week.

On Monday, despite letters threatening legal action should they be published, photos from a private baby shower held for the duo in Namibia were leaked online.

One of the shots, taken before Shiloh's birth, featured the camera-ready couple grinning widely with white feather boas wrapped around their heads while another shows the duo standing near an unopened gift.

Lawyers for Pitt and Angelina Jolie sent out threatening letters to media outlets to prohibit publication of the photos, claiming that a digital memory card containing images of the "private baby shower" had been stolen from the couple.

Most sites originally posting the photos have since removed the images, and police are reportedly continuing to investigate the theft.