Scammer tricks woman into thinking she’s dating Brad Pitt, divorces her millionaire husband and sends £697,000 to pay for ‘kidney cancer treatment’ by sending her AI-generated images
A scammer has tricked a French woman into paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds after convincing her they were Brad Pitt with reels of AI-generated images.
The 53-year-old victim, who gave her name as Anne, paid 830,000 euros (£697,000) to help with what she claimed was cancer treatment for the film star.
The interior designer told the French channel TF1 that the ordeal started when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be the actor’s mother after she shared photos of her lavish ski trip to Tignes on Instagram.
A day later, she received a second message from an account posing as Brad Pitt, saying that his mother had already talked about her a lot.
The victim, who said she was going through a rough patch with her millionaire husband, said she formed an unlikely friendship with the February 2023 report, receiving poems and friendly affirmations.
‘There are so few men who write you these things. I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always done very well,” she said, as reported by BFMTV.
Anne revealed that she had her suspicions and initially thought the account was fake, but after messaging and receiving AI-generated photos and videos from the star every day, she felt more comfortable.
The victim, who said she was going through a rough patch with her millionaire husband, said she had formed an unlikely friendship with the February 2023 account.
She eventually filed a complaint in the summer of 2024, prompting an investigation
Soon after, he began sending poorly generated images, apparently from a hospital bed
Anne bravely spoke to TF1 about her ordeal after being scammed out of thousands
Soon, the blossoming relationship took a turn when the fake Brad Pitt proposed to Anne and overwhelmed her with the promise of beautiful gifts.
The only problem was that she had to pay customs fees to receive them.
This quickly amounted to 9,000 euros (£7,566).
Because Anne was already willing to part with money, the scammer started making increasingly absurd requests.
When the victim told her “friend” that she expected a hefty divorce settlement from her husband, the scammer upped the stakes.
The Brad Pitt account appealed for help funding urgent treatment for kidney cancer, lamenting their lack of access to funds due to their ongoing divorce from Angelina Jolie.
The scammer reportedly began sending AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt, apparently from the privacy of a hospital bed.
The two communicated via text and photos, but Anne said he was never free for a phone call – a group of online scammers.
Anne announced on the bill that she was divorcing her partner
Anne began receiving requests for large sums of money after revealing that she was divorcing her wealthy husband
The scammer sent Anne photos of an AI-generated Brad Pitt to gain sympathy and money
Anne and the ‘William Bradley’ account went back and forth and became good friends
The two communicated via text and photos, but Anne said he was never free for a phone call – a group of online scammers
In short, she parted with almost a million euros during the course of the relationship, until her suspicions were aroused when she saw the actor with his new girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, in the press.
Anne took the story to the authorities, who started an investigation.
It was unclear whether she had been able to recoup any of her money almost two years since the relationship began.
BFMTV reports that Anne is currently hospitalized in a clinic with severe depression.
Followers of the story shared some sympathy for the victim.
Sarah Bee wrote on X: ‘Romance scams are the cruellest.’
Another user wondered if the victim could have Googled whether the Fight Club star was in the hospital to verify the claims.
Anne finally realized what was going on and confronted the story
Anne parted with almost a million euros before her suspicions were aroused
She started to have doubts when the star was not pictured in hospital, but was pictured with his new partner
Some of the AI-generated photos allegedly sent to the victim circulated on social media
One user weighed in: ‘Why you need to know what your old people are up to before they give away your inheritance to Brad Pitt’
User Jay Kennedy replied: “My stepmother won’t stop sending money to the cellist.
‘My father and I keep telling her. She keeps getting gift cards.
‘It’s sad how lonely and lost older people become. To where they’re so delusional and doing this.”