Fake Brad Pitt Love Scam Costs French Woman Nearly $1 Million

A 53-year-old French woman, identified only as Anne, has fallen victim to an online romance scam, losing some €830,000 ($851,000) to fraudsters impersonating Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.

The fraud began in February 2023, after Anne posted pictures of herself on Instagram during a skiing holiday. She was then contacted by someone who identified herself as Pitt’s mother, who then introduced her to someone pretending to be Brad Pitt. Anne was initially skeptical, but the scammer convinced her with daily messages, poems, and AI-generated photos and videos. In these, the imposter declared love for her and proposed marriage, so Anne divorced her husband, who gave her a settlement of €775,000.

The scams were elaborate, with requests for money to pay customs fees on fictional gifts of diamond rings, and to treat kidney cancer, even telling Anne that Pitt’s assets were frozen due to his divorce from Angelina Jolie. Anne transferred large sums of money, with one transaction being €60,000 into a Turkish bank account.

When she saw Brad Pitt’s stories with his girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, Anne suspected the whole thing. Now, faced with the truth, she reported the scam to the police and launched an investigation. All this has greatly affected her mental health, having been hospitalized for severe depression and attempting suicide multiple times.

It also illustrates how online romance scams are getting increasingly sophisticated, with fraudsters now using advanced technologies such as AI to dupe victims. An estimated 12,000 people in France alone lost money last year due to this kind of scam, highlighting the growing need for increased awareness and vigilance with online interactions.