Fraudsters have scammed a French woman out of €830,000 by making her believe she was dating Brad Pitt. The victim has faced an onslaught of online harassment – revealing quite to what extent empathy and human decency is in short supply when it comes to people falling for AI scams.
An AI-generated con featuring Brad Pitt is causing quite the stir in France.
A French interior designer, known as Anne, was scammed out of €830,000 after she was duped into thinking that she was in a relationship with the Hollywood actor and that he needed money for cancer treatment.
The 53-year-old’s story was broadcast on the French TV show Sept à Huit on TF1, where she disclosed being scammed by individuals pretending to be Brad Pitt. They used fake social media and artificial intelligence image-creating technology to craft an elaborate and heartbreaking swindle.
In the episode, Anne shared how she received a message from someone purporting to be Jane Etta Pitt, the actor’s mother, telling her she was exactly the woman her son needed.
Soon afterwards, she started to receive messages from what she didn’t know was an AI imitation of Brad Pitt. Anne was going through a divorce with a millionaire entrepreneur at the time, and over the course of a year, her ‘lover’ would send declarations of love and even asked her to marry him.
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained on Sept à Huit. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
“There are few men who write to you like that,” she told French media. “I loved the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women and it was very well put together.”
Once the link of trust was established, then came requests for money, as the scammer began to send luxury goods to Anne as gifts. However, she was told she had to take care of the customs bill – which for one handbag was reportedly €9,000.
When Anne’s daughter warned her mother that she was being conned, she said: “You’ll see when he’s here in person then you’ll say sorry.”
Eventually, AI photos were sent showing Brad Pitt in hospital with kidney cancer. He needed money for treatment, with the excuse being that Pitt’s real-life ex-wife Angelina Jolie had frozen his bank accounts.
Despite Anne’s doubts, she was reassured by the fake star’s “doctor”, who emailed her explaining Pitt was fighting to survive. It was then that Anne transferred around €800,000 to an account in Turkey.
She said: “It cost me to do it, but I thought that I might be saving a man’s life.”
It was only when the Hollywood star was pictured in the media last summer with his current partner Inès de Ramon that Anne realised that she had fallen for an elaborate scam.
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this,” she told TF1. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”
Since the Sept à Huit episode aired on Sunday 12 January, Anne’s story has gone viral. However, instead of celebrating someone brave enough to speak out and expose her vulnerabilities or igniting debates on how to further regulate AI to better avoid these scams, the shameful response has been a wave of cyberbullying towards Anne.
She was targeted on social media as well as with a satirical sketch on one of France’s biggest radio shows. Football team Toulouse FC, who play in France’s top division, poked fun at her on X: “Hi Anne, Brad told us he’d be at the Stadium on Wednesday for #TFCLAVAL. What about you? We’ve included the link to buy your ticket. See you on Wednesday.”
Many social media users rightly considered the post to indecent, which led to the football team to delete the post and apologise: “We understand that our tweet may have been misinterpreted, and we sincerely apologise. We deeply regret if our comments conveyed a negative message. Thank you for your feedback on this error. We promise to be even more careful and discerning in the future.”
They’re not the only ones jumping on the bullying bandwaggon, as Netflix France started promoting “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free.”
Stay classy, Netflix.
Considering the amount of scrutiny, TF1 journalist Harry Roselmack took to X to announce that the story “has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” leading the network to withdraw the broadcast from its platforms and replay services.
Police are now investigating the con that has left Anne almost penniless and hospitalised with depression.
Additional sources • TF1, AFP
