French Woman Ridiculed Online After Losing £700,000 to Fake Brad Pitt Scam | Entertainment & Arts News
A woman from France has faced ridicule on social media after being defrauded of over €830,000 (£700,000) by scammers impersonating Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.
The 53-year-old, referred to as Anne, believed she was engaging in a year-long romantic relationship with the star of Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven.
However, after sharing her experience with reporters, she became the target of intense trolling, prompting the French network TF1 to withdraw her interview from airing.
“The story that aired this Sunday has resulted in an influx of harassment directed at the witness,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack stated on X.
“In the interest of victim protection, we have opted to remove it from our platforms,” he remarked.
At the time the interview was aired, Anne was reported to be experiencing significant depression.
During her appearance on TF1’s Seven to Eight, Anne recounted that she was first contacted on Instagram by someone claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mother.
“She mentioned that her son was seeking someone like me,” Anne detailed. Days later, the scammers reached out again, this time impersonating Brad Pitt himself.
Anne mentioned that her conversations with the fake actor began around February 2023 across various social media and messaging apps, including WhatsApp.
Images aired during the TF1 program circulated online, showcasing a series of AI-generated pictures of Brad Pitt in a hospital, designed to deceive Anne into believing she was communicating with the actual 61-year-old actor.
Brad Pitt with partner Ines de Ramon at the Venice film festival. File pic: AP
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‘I really didn’t understand’
“Initially, I thought it was a hoax, that it was absurd,” Anne expressed to TF1. “However, since I’m not familiar with social media, I didn’t quite grasp the situation I was in.”
The scammers soon began to ask her for money, claiming that Brad was hospitalized with kidney cancer and required financial assistance for treatment due to his bank accounts being frozen amid divorce proceedings involving ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
Ultimately, she consented to transfer a significant amount of money to a Turkish bank account after receiving an email from the fake actor’s “doctor”.
Scammers ‘deserve hell’
Anne revealed she recognized she had fallen victim to a scam only after seeing true images of Brad Pitt with his current partner, Ines de Ramon.
“I wonder why they decided to inflict such harm on me?” she shared with TF1. “I have never wronged anyone. These individuals deserve hell.”
Law enforcement is looking into the scam, but the interview triggered a wave of lighthearted posts on social media making fun of Anne.
According to French newspaper Sud Ouest, Anne was going through divorce proceedings with a millionaire entrepreneur at the time and required hospitalization for severe depression following the scam.
A representative for Brad Pitt commented to Sky News: “It’s heartbreaking that fraudsters exploit fans’ strong connections to celebrities.”
They also remarked that it is “a crucial reminder to avoid engaging with unsolicited online messages, especially from actors without a social media presence.”
