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A woman in France has been duped out of €830,000 ($850,000) after falling for an AI scam where she believed she was in a relationship with Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt.
It started after the 53-year-old woman, named Anne, downloaded Instagram in February 2023 and said she had been contacted by someone who claimed to be the actor’s mom, Entertainment Weekly reported.
The account told Anne that her son “needed a woman just like her,” with someone claiming to be Brad Pitt then getting in touch the following day.
Brad Pitt is not messaging fans for money, rep warns after French woman loses life savings in scam https://t.co/iterMAJdd7 via @EW
— vision21s (@vision21siecle) January 15, 2025
While the interactions set off alarm bells for Anne, she said to French media: “but as someone who isn’t very used to social media, I didn’t really know what was happening to me.”
In a YouTube video, Anne said she experienced repeated doubts.
The faux-Brad Pitt said he had tried to send her luxury gifts, but was unable to pay the customs required as the bank accounts were frozen due to divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie. It was then that Anne first sent money over, with €9000 sent to the scammers.
Several AI-related scams have taken place in recent years, with the new technology making it harder to decipher what is true and what isn’t which could become a significant problem in the coming years.
AI-generated images of Brad Pitt began to be sent over
The money requests then increased as Anne believed the user purporting to be Pitt needed cash to pay for a kidney cancer treatment, with several AI-generated images sent over in an attempt to play into the lie.
“I looked those photos up on the internet but couldn’t find them so I thought that meant he had taken those selfies just for me.”
At the time, Anne’s 22-year-old daughter tried to “get her mother to see reason,” as she recounted to TF1 later.
It was only when Brad Pitt went official with new girlfriend Ines de Ramon that Anne decided to end what she believed to be a true relationship.
Speaking in the conversation with TF1, the victim said: “Why was I chosen to be hurt this way?
“These people deserve hell. We need to find those scammers, I beg you – please help me find them.”
An investigation into the matter is underway, with Anne having contacted the police after the fake account(s) tried to get more money out of her.
According to the TF1 program, the woman lost her life savings and tried to take her own life three times since the scam came to light.
The program has since been withdrawn after it sparked a “wave of harassment.”
A representative for the real actor’s team has spoken to Entertainment Weekly and said it was “awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities.” They warned that people shouldn’t reply to unsolicited online outreach “especially from actors who have no social media presence.”
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
