Victim believed she was in a long-distance relationship with the Hollywood star, only to uncover the elaborate deception after her divorce.
January 14, 2025: A 53-year-old French woman, Anne, fell victim to an elaborate online scam, losing €800,000 after being convinced she was in a relationship with Hollywood star Brad Pitt. The scam, which surfaced in 2024, involved fake accounts, AI-generated videos, and emotional manipulation.
Anne, who was on a ski trip to Tignes, received an Instagram message from an account posing as Pitt's mother, Jane Etta Pitt. The following day, she was contacted by another account claiming to be the actor himself. The two began talking and developed a friendship that soon turned romantic.
Amid personal turmoil, including a divorce from her millionaire husband, Anne received poems and declarations of love from the scammer. "There are so few men who write such things. I liked the man I was talking to and he knew how to talk to women," Anne shared on the show Sept à huit, aired on TF1.
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The scammer sent AI-generated videos and images to convince Anne of his identity. Claiming his bank accounts were blocked due to his ongoing divorce with Angelina Jolie, he persuaded Anne to pay €9,000 for a "luxury gift" and later demanded more money for his supposed kidney surgery.
In 2024, the scam unraveled when Anne saw reports of Pitt's relationship with jewelry designer Ines De Ramon. The discovery left Anne devastated, leading to severe depression and hospitalization.
This incident echoes a similar scam in Spain, where five suspects were arrested for scamming two women of €325,000 by posing as Brad Pitt. Using fake social media and WhatsApp messages, the scammers manipulated the victims into believing they were romantically involved with the actor and persuaded them to invest in non-existent projects.
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Brad Pitt, online scams, romance fraud, celebrity imposters, AI scams, social media fraud, international crime, Brad Pitt scam victims, romantic deception.
