A woman is scammed out of $850,000 by Brad Pitt in a romance scam

A French woman named Anne was scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars after she was tricked into believing she was in a relationship with a Hollywood actor. Brad Pitt.

The scam began with messages from accounts pretending to be Pete and his mother, using AI-generated photos of the actor to build trust.

The scammer claimed Brad Pitt needed money for cancer treatment, exploiting the vulnerability of Anne, who, despite warnings, continued to send money until she realized the deception.

A French woman has been scammed out of hundreds of thousands of pounds after she was tricked into believing she was dating Brad Pitt.

The 53-year-old victim, known as Anne, was tricked into sending €830,000 ($850,000) to support the actor’s cancer treatment.

According to Daily MailAnne, an interior designer, told French network TF1 that the scam started when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be Pete’s mother.

It came after she posted photos from Tignes’ extravagant ski holiday on Instagram. The next day, another account, pretending to be a “Fight Club” actor, contacted her, claiming that his mother had praised her.

Anne was experiencing personal problems in her marriage to a millionaire at the time, and by February 2023, she had developed a close relationship with the impersonator.

The scammer sent her heartfelt poems and supportive letters, deepening her emotional connection.

“There are very few men who write you that kind of thing. I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, and it was always very well done,” Anne admitted in an interview with BFMTV.

Anne admitted that she initially suspected the account might be fake, but after daily conversations and receiving Pete’s AI-generated photos and videos, her suspicions gradually faded.

What started as a seemingly innocent friendship quickly escalated when the impersonator proposed marriage and promised Anne luxurious gifts.

However, there was a problem, as she needed to cover customs duties to receive these gifts, which quickly reached 9,000 euros.

After seeing Anne’s desire to send money, the scammer continued to make increasingly outrageous requests.

When Anne confided that she was expecting a huge divorce settlement from her husband, the con man seized the opportunity.

Posing as Pete, they claimed to be in desperate need of funds for kidney cancer treatment, claiming they could not access their own money due to their divorce battle with actress Angelina Jolie.

To make the story more convincing, the scammer sent AI-generated photos of Pete looking weak and bedridden in the hospital.

Despite constantly exchanging text messages and photos, Anne noted that the impersonator was never available for a phone or video call.

Anne eventually lost nearly one million euros due to the complex fraud. Despite repeated warnings from her daughter, she remained convinced of the relationship, insisting: “You will see when he comes here in person, and then you will apologize.”

Her belief only began to waver in the summer of 2024 when photos of the real Pete with his girlfriend Ines de Ramon appeared in the media.

Sensing her growing suspicions, the scammers quickly sent Anne a fabricated news alert denying Pete’s affair with Dee Ramone, claiming he was secretly involved with a mysterious “someone very special.”

The scam deepened when someone posing as an FBI agent contacted Anne, offering to bail her out of the scam for €5,000. Desperate to find a solution, I sent money.

Financially drained, Anne was forced to sell all her furniture and move in with a friend. In a last-ditch effort to manage her escalating situation, she launched an online fundraising campaign to cover mounting legal fees.

According to TF1, Anne attempted suicide three times before being admitted to a specialist clinic for treatment of major depression.

Once Anne fully realized the extent of the scam, she reported it to the authorities, prompting an official investigation.

However, almost two years later, it is still uncertain whether she has recovered any of her lost money. Anne remains in hospital, grappling with the devastating consequences of the ordeal, BFMTV reported.

Public reaction to her story was mixed. Some expressed sympathy, while others felt it was her fault that she had been scammed.

“Romance scams are the cruelest,” one user commented on X (formerly Twitter).

Another said: “I had a friend who was in a similar situation and received pictures like this, but Jensen Ackles needed $10,000 for surgery.”

Others were more critical, wondering how the allegations had not been verified. One wrote: “Couldn’t she have Googled Brad Pitt Hospital? There would have been at least one article.”

On the harsh side, one user commented, “Honestly, if you fall into this trap of thinking, Brad Pitt, of all people, will randomly DM you. You kinda deserve it.”

Another said: “I don’t know how people so stupid can get that kind of money.”