Whew! A French woman reportedly lost over $800,000 to scammers pretending to be Brad Pitt, who convinced her she was in a relationship with him and needed help paying for medical expenses.
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Details On Woman Scammed By Fake Account Pretending To Be Brad Pitt
BFM TV reports the woman identified as Anne was first contacted by someone claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mother. Despite her skepticism, Anne kept in contact with the person for 18 months and later received messages from someone posing as the actor. She explained to BFM TV that she wasn’t familiar with social media, which made it difficult for her to understand.
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous. But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me,” Anne explained.
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Per PEOPLE, Anne initially sent more than $10,000 after the fake account claimed it needed the money to cover custom tariffs for gifts supposedly sent to her. After telling the scammer she had recently divorced her husband, Anne reportedly sent nearly all of her $798,000 divorce settlement.
“There are so few men who write you this kind of thing. I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done,” Anne continued.
The person posing as Pitt claimed he had kidney cancer and needed a loan, because his his divorce from Angelina Jolie. The scammer even went further by sending Anne AI-generated images of Brad Pitt’s face on men in hospital beds.
Anne went on to do her own research and found that Pitt was in a relationship with Ines De Ramon, but scammers denied it. However, she hasn’t let the fake Brad off easily. Since then, she has filed a lawsuit and a police investigation has been operated.
Brad Pitt’s Rep Reacts To Catfishing Scheme
After Anne’s story went viral, a representative for Brad Pitt stepped in to address the situation, according to E! News. The unknown representative warned people to be cautious of random online contact.
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities, but this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence,” the spokesperson reportedly told the outlet.
