A French woman who was scammed out of 830,000 euros (£700,000, $850,000) by scammers posing as actor Brad Pitt has faced a wave of ridicule, with French broadcaster TF1 reporting on her The program was canceled.
The prime-time show, which aired Sunday, drew national attention to Ann, 53, an interior designer who was thought to have been dating Pitt for a year and a half.
She later told a popular French YouTube show that she was not “crazy or stupid”. “I was just played with, and I admit that. That’s why I came forward. Because I’m not the only one.”
“It’s terrible when scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connections with celebrities,” Pitt’s rep told Entertainment Weekly, adding that “it’s terrible when scammers take advantage of the strong connections between fans and celebrities,” adding, “It’s terrible when scammers take advantage of the strong connections between fans and celebrities.” He said he should not respond to calls.
Hundreds of social media users ridiculed Anne, who announced on the show that she had lost her entire life’s savings and attempted suicide three times since the fraud was discovered.
France’s Netflix published a post on X promoting “4 real movies starring Brad Pitt,” while Toulouse FC posted in a now-deleted post: “Hi Anne, Brad will be at the stadium on Wednesday. .. you too?
The club has since apologized for the post.
TF1 announced on Tuesday that it had canceled its show about Anne after her testimony sparked a “wave of harassment”, but the show can still be viewed online.
In the report, Anne said her ordeal began when she downloaded Instagram in February 2023, when she was still married to a wealthy entrepreneur.
Ann was soon contacted by someone who identified herself as Pitt’s mother, Jane Etta, and told Anne that her son “needed a woman like her.”
The next day, Ann was contacted by someone claiming to be Pitt, which alarmed her. “But I’m not very familiar with social media, so I didn’t really understand what was happening to me,” she said.
At one point, “Brad Pitt” tried to send Anne a lavish gift, but said that due to his divorce proceedings with actor Angelina Jolie, his bank account was frozen and he was unable to pay the customs duties. and asked him to remit 9,000 euros. con man.
“Like a fool, I paid…every time I doubted him, he managed to dispel my doubts,” she said.
When the fake Pitt told Anne he needed cash to pay for his kidney cancer treatment and sent her multiple AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt in a hospital bed, the demand for money was further increased. “I looked for those pictures on the internet, but I couldn’t find them. So I thought he had taken a selfie for me,” she said.
Meanwhile, Anne and her husband divorced and Anne was awarded €775,000, all of which ended up in the hands of the fraudsters.
“I told myself that maybe I was saving someone’s life,” said Anne, who is also in remission from cancer.
Anne’s daughter, now 22, told TF1 that she tried for more than a year to “make her mother see sense,” but her mother became too excited. “It hurt to see how naive she was,” she said.
When an image showing the real Brad Pitt and his new girlfriend Ines de Ramon was published in a gossip magazine, arousing suspicions against Ann, scammers sent her fake news, among which An AI-generated anchor spoke about Pitt’s “exclusive relationship with a special person.” …My name is Ann. ”
The video briefly comforted Anne, but when the real Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon officially announced their relationship in June 2024, Anne decided to end the relationship.
Anne called the police after the scammers tried to extort more money by posing as FBI Special Agent John Smith. An investigation is currently underway.
The TF1 program stated that the incident left Anne bankrupt and that she attempted to take her life three times.
“Why did I have to be hurt like this?” Ann said through tears. “These people deserve hell. We have to find those scammers, please help us find them.”
However, in a YouTube interview on Tuesday, Anne fired back at TF1, saying that details she had repeatedly questioned about whether she was talking to the real Brad Pitt had been omitted, and if told, anyone would be fooled by the scam. He added that there is a possibility of getting caught. Words I’ve never heard from my own husband. ”
Anne said she is currently living with a friend. “My life is a small room with a few boxes. That’s all I have left.”
While many online users overwhelmingly ridiculed Anne, there were a few who took her side.
“I understand the comical effect, but we’re talking about a woman in her 50s who was fooled by deepfakes and AI that her parents and grandparents couldn’t tell,” said a popular There was a post.
An editorial in the newspaper Libération said that Anne was a “whistleblower” and said, “Today’s life is paved with cybertraps…and advances in AI will only worsen this scenario.”
