A French woman alleges she was scammed of $850,000 by an AI Brad Pitt. The 53-year-old interior designer, Anne, was contacted by a scammer disguised as Pitt’s mother Jane, who told the woman Pitt needed kidney treatment.
“She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne said on a Sunday episode of Seven to Eight on French TV channel TF1.
The scammer convinced the woman to send copious amounts of money to help cover Pitt’s kidney treatment. To justify the Oscar-winning actor’s shortage of cash, the scammer said Pitt was unable to access his bank accounts due to his divorce from Angelina Jolie.
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne continued. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
The scheme follows a similar scam that beset fans of Johnny Depp, who warned on social media earlier this month that online scammers were using his likeness to target fans. A Gizmodo report revealed the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 200 complaints about fake Depps clawing for money.
The Pitt scammer sent personalized AI-generated photos and messages via social media and messaging apps to the woman for more than a year. It began in February 2023, when Anne joined Instagram to share pictures of a skiing trip in the French Alps. Anne, who suffers from mental health issues, left her husband as the scam carried on, and noticed it was a bait-and-switch after reading news headlines of Pitt’s girlfriend Ines de Ramon. Anne has since filed a police report, according to TF1.
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she said. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”
Following the Seven to Eight broadcast, Anne has faced cyberbullying, while other online users have attacked the TV channel TF1 for failing to protect the woman from harassment.
Netflix France, for example, posted on social media, “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free”.
TF1 has since pulled the interview from its programming, since reaching viral fame, according to a Tuesday social media post by TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack.
Brangelina, who became an item after co-starring in the 2005 action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, settled their divorce Dec. 30, nearly eight years after Jolie filed for divorce. Jolie and Pitt were together for 12 years, and married for two. They filed for divorce following an inflight fight, in which Jolie said Pitt was abusive to her and the kids. After an FBI and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services investigation, they concluded no action was needed. The now divorced couple share six kids, four of which are adults.
From Rolling Stone US
