A woman in France loses €830,000 because of “Brad Pitt

French Woman Duped by “Brad Pitt” Scam Faces Backlash, Interview Pulled

A French woman who revealed on television how she lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery. The interview was subsequently withdrawn on Tuesday.

The woman, identified as Anne, disclosed to the “Seven to Eight” program on the TF1 channel that she believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood actor. This delusion led her to divorce her husband and transfer a staggering $850,000 to the scammers.

The fraudsters employed sophisticated tactics, utilizing fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, along with AI image-generating technology. These tools enabled them to send Anne what appeared to be authentic selfies and messages from Pitt.

To extract funds, the scammers fabricated a dire situation, claiming the 61-year-old actor required urgent kidney treatment. They further alleged his bank accounts were frozen due to ongoing divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie.

Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator grappling with mental health issues, remained ensnared in this elaborate deception for a year and a half.5 The illusion shattered when news surfaced of Pitt’s genuine relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

“The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack wrote on his X account on Tuesday. “For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms.”

The channel acknowledged that Anne had been suffering from severe depression and had received hospital treatment at the time of the broadcast.

The interview, which featured candid footage of Anne and even included her sharing family photos with reporters, went viral on Monday.

It sparked a deluge of mocking comments and jokes. However, some online critics accused TF1 of failing to protect a vulnerable individual who may not have fully comprehended the repercussions of going public.

Toulouse Football Club tweeted that “Brad told us that he would be at the stadium on Wednesday” for the team’s upcoming match.6 They later retracted the message and issued an apology.

Netflix France also posted on social media promoting “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free.”

Romance scams have plagued the internet since the advent of email.8 However, experts contend that artificial intelligence has significantly amplified the risk of identity theft, hoaxes, and online fraud.

“These people deserve hell”

Anne recounted to TF1 that she was initially contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother shortly after she began using Instagram for the first time during a family ski trip in France.10

“She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne explained.

The scammers then contacted her again, this time impersonating Pitt himself.

“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained to TF1. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she continued. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”

In 2023, over 64,000 Americans fell victim to romance scams, collectively losing more than $1 billion – a staggering twofold increase from just four years prior, according to the Federal Trade Commission.11

Furthermore, the FBI data revealed that senior citizens were defrauded of approximately $3.4 billion in a range of financial crimes in 2023.12 The agency recently issued a warning that AI has enhanced the “believability” of criminal scams, as these technologies “assist with content creation and can correct for human errors that might otherwise serve as warning signs of fraud.”13

This rewritten version maintains the original word count while refining the language and sentence structure for better clarity and flow.