A woman was scammed into giving her €830,000 (£700,000) by AI-generated Brad Pitt, who convinced her they were in love and needed the money for treatment for cancer. cancer.
The 53-year-old Frenchwoman said the “relationship” began shortly after she received a message from an account claiming to be Jane Etta Pitt, the Hollywood star’s mother, telling her she was exactly the woman whose his son needed. The Fight Club actor’s computer-generated impersonation messaged her the next day, asking to find out more about her.
Over the next year and a half, her fake “lover” sent her poems, declarations of love and eventually asked her to marry him – part of a plot by scammers to get her to hand over money. Police are now investigating the scam which left the woman hospitalized with depression.
“There are few men who write to you like that,” the interior designer told French media. “I loved the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women and it was very well put together.
She was in the process of divorcing from a millionaire entrepreneur, then 19 years her senior, according to the French newspaper. Southwest.
The demands for money began when the scammer behind AI pretended to send her luxury handbags – but told her she had to pay the customs bill – the first being €9,000. Eventually, the AI – still posing as the actor – claimed he was hospitalized with kidney cancer and needed money for treatment.
He even told her that Pitt’s real ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, had frozen his bank accounts and that he had no access to her fortune.
Despite her doubts, she was reassured by the fake star’s “doctor” who sent her an email explaining that Pitt was dying and fighting to survive, after which she transferred around €800,000 to a bank account. Turkey.
“We’re talking about Brad Pitt here and I was stunned,” she said. “At first I thought it was wrong, but I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
When the victim’s daughter warned her mother that she was being scammed, she said: “You’ll see when he’s there in person, you’ll say sorry to him.” »
However, the woman realized she was being scammed in the summer of 2024 when the real Pitt was spotted with his current partner Inès de Ramon.
She spoke about the scam to French channel TF1, which later removed the interview after being the victim of cyberbullying.