A French woman was scammed out of €830,000 (approximately $855,000) by a con artist impersonating Brad Pitt using artificial intelligence (AI).
Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator, quickly became the laughingstock of the francophone internet when French TV channel TF1 aired a documentary exposing her demise on January 12.
According to the documentary, a scammer used AI-generated media to gain Anne’s trust, ultimately convincing her to divorce her husband and deplete her savings to support the alleged "Brad Pitt."
Highlights
- A fake Brad Pitt conned a French woman, Anne, into losing €830,000 (approximately $855,000) using AI trickery.
- Anne divorced her millionaire husband after being deceived into supporting the scammer's fake medical needs.
- French TV channel TF1's documentary on Anne's scam led to severe online harassment, prompting the network to remove the show.
Amid widespread online harassment, Anne is now reportedly hospitalized for severe depression following three attempts to take her own life.
TF1 has consequently apologized and removed the documentary from its online platform.
A French woman was scammed out of €830,000 (approximately $855,000) by a con artist impersonating Brad Pitt using AI
Image credits: focusminutes
“Since the broadcast, Anne has faced ridicule online, with many mocking her supposed gullibility, a quick and easy judgment given the growing number of sophisticated scams targeting vulnerable people,” the French network wrote on Tuesday (January 14).
“In response to the widespread mockery and the smear campaign she became a target of on social media, we decided, in collaboration with the victim, to remove the replay of the broadcast to halt the phenomenon," Grégoire Marçais, deputy director of TF1’s production company, added.
Anne has since broken her silence and expressed her anger in an interview with Legend TV on Tuesday.
Image credits: Gilbert Flores/Variety
She criticized TF1's Sept à Huit, the name of its documentary series, for misrepresenting her story.
"I’ve never cheated on my husband in my life because I am a kind-hearted woman, not crazy or naive as some claim on social media," Anne said.
She added: "I just wanted to help someone. I admit I was deceived, and that's why I spoke out – I am not the only one in this situation.
Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator, quickly became the laughingstock of francophone internet
Image credits: dailyzap_tv
“Maybe not for this amount, but I was scammed, and now you know who I am, and I stand by that."
According to the victim, TF1’s intentions were misleading, as she explained: "I have no roof over my head.
“My life now consists of a 6 square meter box with a few boxes inside. This is what I have left.
Image credits: focusminutes
“As for the scammers, I said more than 40 times, maybe more, that I didn’t believe it. I clearly said that photo was fake.
“But in the report, none of that was mentioned. The journalist stayed for two days to interview me, and he only chose what would tarnish my image.
“It was all about getting views.”
French TV channel TF1 aired a documentary exposing her demise on January 12
Image credits: dailyzap_tv
Anne further exclaimed: "I’m a sensible woman. If you had been in my place, you’d have fallen into the trap.
“If someone comes and talks to you kindly, says things you've never heard from your own husband, yes, yes, you fall for it.
“That’s how it happened."
Anne was hit with a wave of ridicule on social media after she fell victim to a scam orchestrated by someone posing as Brad Pitt.
The bizarre tale began in February 2023 when Anne, new to Instagram, created an account, initially to share vacation photos of skiing trips with her husband and daughter, Madame Figaro reported on Tuesday.
Soon, Anne was reportedly approached on social media by a woman claiming to be the Hollywood star’s mother.
According to the documentary, a scammer used AI-generated media to gain Anne’s trust
Image credits: osint_random/TF1
“Brad Pitt” subsequently contacted Anne, which left her skeptical at first. Nevertheless, Anne eventually fell for the honey trap.
Over the course of a year, Anne was swayed by AI-generated photos and videos of Brad and became convinced that she was in a long-distance romantic relationship with him despite never meeting him.
“I had someone who showed interest in me and my work when my own husband didn’t care,” Anne recalled in the documentary.
She added: “I loved the man I was talking to. He knew how to speak to women. These are photos he made for me.”
She continued: “He sent me pictures, and when I searched for them, I couldn’t find them anywhere.
“So I thought: these must be photos he made just for me.”
He ultimately convinced Anne to divorce her husband and deplete her savings to support the alleged "Brad Pitt"
Image credits: osint_random/TF1
At one point, the grifter escalated the deception by proposing to Anne, which led her to divorce her then-husband, a millionaire, and receive a €775,000 (approximately $798,500) settlement.
Anne subsequently gave her entire settlement fortune to the fake Brad Pitt, who at the time claimed to have kidney cancer.
The fraudster explained that he needed money for surgery, as his accounts were supposedly frozen due to a divorce from Angelina Jolie.
Image credits: LEGEND
“It was hard for me to do, but I thought I might be saving a man’s life,” Anne recounted in the documentary. In total, she transferred a whopping €830,000 to the scammer.
A French hacker has since announced that he successfully tracked down Anne's swindler and claimed he was optimistic about recovering the money she lost.
“In Anne’s case, we traced these scammers to Benin,” Marwan, the hacker, explained on Legend TV.
Anne was hit with a wave of ridicule on social media after she fell victim to the scam
He further explained: “Romance scams typically originate from Nigeria, Benin, or other parts of Africa, though occasionally from the Philippines.
According to Marwan, the scammer initially funneled the money into foreign bank accounts before converting it into cryptocurrency.
Image credits: osint_random/TF1
The hacker revealed: “We tracked the funds and identified the wallet address currently holding the money.
“We even discovered the scammer’s house, name, and other significant details.”
He continued: “We gained complete access to the scammer’s device by sending a phishing link, which he clicked.
“This gave us full control of his phone.”
Amid widespread online harassment, TF1 apologized and removed the documentary
Image credits: NetflixFR
In a surprising turn of events, Marwan uncovered that Anne’s scammer had also been impersonating another well-known celebrity.
He said: “In addition to posing as Brad Pitt, this individual was also pretending to be Keanu Reeves, the actor from John Wick.
“It was too much, so we reported him to local authorities. As of now, everything is in motion, and I expect he’ll be arrested in the coming days.
“We are hopeful Anne will recover her €830,000.”
Image credits: osint_random/TF1
According to the hacker, Anne wasn’t the scammer’s only victim, as he said: “We identified around 30 victims, including those targeted by the Keanu Reeves persona.
“This individual has been exploiting the identities of Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves, deceiving at least 30 people.”
He added: “As of today, Anne is confirmed to be the most significant victim of celebrity identity fraud scams worldwide.”
A French hacker has since announced that he successfully tracked down Anne's swindler
Image credits: LEGEND
Similarly to Anne’s ordeal with the Brad Pitt scam, Katherine Goodson, a 67-year-old widow from San Diego, California, fell victim to a romance scam involving a fraudster impersonating Keanu Reeves, losing over $60,000 and ending up homeless.
The Keanu Reeves scammer groomed her for over two years, exploiting her loneliness and vulnerability.
Experts warned that such scams prey on emotions through tactics like love-bombing, urging for stronger education and community support to protect potential victims.
"It's terrible how scammers prey on people's kindness and trust," a reader commented
