AI prankster impersonating Brad Pitt scams woman out of $850,000

A happy person who one woman thought was a Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt it quickly became a living dream.

On January 12, French television channel TF1 aired an episode of its program “Sept à Huit,” which told the story of a 53-year-old interior designer named Anne who revealed that she lost 830,000 euros (about $850,000) of her money because she thought she was sending money to Pitt who was suffering from cancer.

Through false documents and images as well as artificial intelligence, Anne believed she was talking to him, and eventually had a relationship with the 61-year-old actor.

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She was reportedly contacted in February 2023 on Instagram by someone who identified herself as Pitt's 85-year-old mother, Jane Etta PittAnne received a message saying, “It's a woman like you that my son needs,” by BFM TV and The Sunday Times.

“At first I thought it was a lie, that it was crazy,” said Anne. by AFP. “But I'm not used to social media and I didn't really understand what was happening to me.” Despite her doubts, Anne continued the conversation before being sent a message by the alleged Pitt.

“My mom told me so many things about you,” the con artist wrote.

Anne was inundated with messages of love and many poems as well as beautiful photographs. This operation had many parts, and some pretended to be Pitt's boss and his daughter, Shiloh, who he shares with ex-wife Angelina Jolie, to help with the problem. After an eight-year legal battle, Pitt and Jolie finalized their divorce settlement in 2024 after being officially declared “soso” in 2019.

“What makes these scams so dangerous is their multifaceted approach,” Marva Bailer, AI expert and founder and CEO of Qualaix, told Fox News Digital. “Scammers build trust over time, often pretending to be a family member, employee or close associate of celebrities who claim to help celebrities by managing their philanthropic efforts. Method This indirect one makes the scam seem more believable, since it's not a celebrity asking for help directly, it's someone in a close or 'real' relationship. It plays on the fact that the celebrity is too proud or private to ask for help, which makes the situation seem real.”

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Anne was troubled by the lack of visual communication with the actress, prompting the con artist to send her an AI-generated video. Money was brought up in the conversation when Anne was told she would have to pay more than €9,000 in tax bills in order to accept luxury gifts from the Pitt impersonator.

Newly divorced, Anne told the scammer that she had received a hefty divorce settlement of €775,000. After this reception, Pitt's artist told Anne that he had kidney cancer and was struggling to pay for his treatment because of his ongoing divorce proceedings with Jolie. Anne sent most of her divorce settlement to the fake Pitt.

Throughout the treatment, the person called Pitt sent Anne a series of advanced images which shows his time in the hospital receiving treatment. In another photo, Pitt is lying in a hospital bed holding a card that says, “Anne I love you.”

A novice in social media, Anne had endless doubts and how to block the scammer's number many times, finally giving in to her feelings and starting a conversation again. After reading a report that Pitt was involved with a businessman Ramon's nameshe was sent a fake TV report to dampen her mood, which made it clear that the couple were not dating.

When photos of the couple were released this summer, Anne knew it was a hoax and decided to take legal action. In the end the story was pulled by TF1 because he started being ridiculed a lot. The network issued a statement saying they chose to pull the story from their games after the initial broadcast “sparked a wave of abuse” against the victim.

Pitt's representative said AND! News on Jan 15 that the situation with Anne was “bad.”

“It's sad that pranksters are taking advantage of the strong connection between fans and celebrities,” said the rep, “but this is an important reminder that we don't respond to unwanted online activity, especially from actors who don't have social media.”

Pitt does not have any verified social media platforms. A representative for the actor did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Bailer echoed those sentiments, sharing that despite the easy availability of celebrity images, people are at risk: “With celebrities' social reach and online presence, they can create social media accounts of social media or sending highly persuasive emails or messages directly from celebrities or their group, eager to be part of something special, can be easily misled into thinking that they share with someone they trust.”

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Luke Arrigoni, CEO of Loti AI, a company that specializes in facial recognition and depth perception, told Fox News Digital that scams like this involving Pitt's character are “very common.”

“For everyone dealing with these scam accounts, please be aware that scammers often give reasons why they have to hide their relationships. medical or fired somewhere, these are all red flags. But the biggest red flag is asking for any kind of money at all.

“These types of fraud are rampant and the sophisticated technologies being developed using artificial intelligence are improving all the time,” Rob Rosenburg, who runs the consulting firm Telluride Legal Strategies, told Fox News Digital. . “Unless you're walking around celebrity circles, you should treat any communication from a celebrity with caution. It's more likely to be fake than genuine.”

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