A French woman was scammed out of $850,000 by someone on social media posing as Brad Pitt in a romantic scheme that lasted for more than a year.
The 53-year-old interior designer named Anne gave the fake Pitt her life’s savings after she was duped into believing Pitt was sick in the hospital with the help of AI images, per France 24.
With photoshopped pictures, the scammer convinced Anne that Pitt was in need of funds to help pay for a kidney treatment, telling her the actor couldn’t access his bank accounts due to his years-long bitter divorce from Angelina Jolie, which he recently settled in court last month.
Anne told the outlet the charade began when someone pretending to be Pitt’s mother, Jane, contacted her saying “her son needed someone like me.”
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” she recalled. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
When she continued to receive messages from the fake account — which included personal poems —Anne claimed she started to believe the messages were real despite her first thoughts.
Ultimately, Anne went on to divorce her husband with the intention to finally be together with Pitt in-person.
She realized she had been deceived by scammers after she saw reports of Pitt’s ongoing relationship with Ines de Ramon.
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she told French network, TF1, in a segment, that has since been pulled after attracting trolls.
“I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”
According to French 24, people began “harassing” Anne following the release of her story. The outlet also shared that Anne suffers from mental problems
TF1 claims Anne has since been hospitalized for severe depression after the ordeal.
