Johnny Depp allegedly lost $721,000 to a credit card fraudster, and the most remarkable part isn’t the theft. It’s that he apparently had no idea it was happening. A 27-year-old Jordanian man reportedly obtained the Hollywood star’s American Express card details and quietly drained over $700,000 across hundreds of transactions spanning nearly two years, all without triggering any alarm from Depp or his team.
Because Depp’s fortune is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, the suspect was reportedly able to make smaller transactions repeatedly without immediately raising suspicion. It was only when his bank stepped in that the scheme unraveled.
The Bank Flags Suspicious Activity
The investigation began when an American financial institution contacted the Hungarian branch of the FBI after detecting unusual withdrawals from one of its client accounts. The bank filed a formal complaint after identifying the transactions as fraudulent, and the trail quickly pointed east toward Hungary.
Investigators reviewed banking documents connected to the withdrawals and determined that the fraudulent activity had been running for nearly two years. Fraudulent transactions linked to the high-profile client occurred between January 2024 and December 2025, using the victim’s credit card details. Hungarian authorities took over from there.
308 Transactions, Two Years, One Suspect
In total, the suspect allegedly attempted 308 fraudulent online transactions worth more than $721,000. Police said the man used stolen card information to make purchases and bookings on various online platforms, with a large portion of the transactions conducted through an international accommodation booking website.
It wasn’t a smash-and-grab. This was a slow, calculated operation designed to stay under the radar, and for two full years, it worked. The actor was confirmed to be completely unaware that the funds were missing.
The Digital Trail
Catching the suspect required investigators to piece together a detailed digital picture. The investigation traced several IP addresses and email accounts used during the fraud attempts to Hungarian internet service providers. Detectives also linked the activity to a Hungarian phone number that had been provided as contact information when renting an apartment in Budapest last December.
That phone number turned out to be a critical mistake. It gave investigators a direct physical link to a location, and from there, identifying the suspect was only a matter of time. Authorities subsequently identified the suspect as a Jordanian national with a Hungarian residence permit.
The Budapest Arrest
Police moved on 6 May, sending an emergency unit to a rented apartment on Gömb Street in the 13th district of Angyalföld in Budapest. The suspect was arrested on the spot, and the court later ordered his detention. During the search, officers recovered electronic devices allegedly used to carry out the fraud. They also found suspected drug residue inside the property, which triggered a separate drug possession investigation.
Data recovery from the seized devices is still ongoing, and Hungarian police have confirmed that further arrests are not ruled out as the investigation continues.
Suspect Denies The Charges
The perpetrator has denied the claims and said that he is not guilty, though he is still being held in pre-trial detention under the court’s order. The denial hasn’t slowed investigators down. Police are continuing to work through the evidence recovered from the apartment raid, and the case is still very much active.
How Did The Fraudster Get Depp’s Card Details?
That’s the question investigators are still trying to answer. The actor was using an American Express card whose data was compromised sometime before January 2024. While the investigation continues to determine exactly how the data was stolen, it is confirmed that the actor was completely unaware that the funds were missing.
Hungarian police acknowledged in their official statement that Depp’s card details “somehow reached the fraudster before January 2024,” adding that the investigation would reveal “where, how, and when.” For now, that remains an open question, and it’s likely the most consequential one. Until investigators establish how the details were obtained, the full scope of the breach, and whether anyone else was involved, the case won’t be closed.
