Viral scam: French woman deceived by AI Brad Pitt faces cyberbullying

An AI-generated scam featuring Brad Pitt is making a lot of noise in France.

A French interior designer, known as Anne, was scammed out of €830,000 after believing she was in a relationship with the Hollywood actor and that he needed money for treatment against cancer.

The story of the 53-year-old woman was broadcast on the show Sept à Huit on TF1, where she revealed that she had been the victim of a scam by individuals posing as Brad Pitt. They used fake social media and artificial intelligence-based image-making technology to create an elaborate and harrowing scam.

In the episode, Anne recounted how she received a message from someone claiming to be Jane Etta Pitt, the actor’s mother, telling her she was exactly the woman her son needed.

Shortly after, she started receiving messages from what she didn’t know was an AI impersonation of Brad Pitt. Anne was then going through a divorce from a millionaire entrepreneur, and over the course of a year, her “lover” was sending her declarations of love and even asking her to marry him.

“At first, I told myself that it was false, that it was ridiculous,” explained Anne on Sept à Huit. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

“There are few men who write to you like that,” she 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.

Once the bond of trust was established, then came the demands for money, as the scammer began sending Anne luxury products as gifts. However, she was told she would have to deal with the customs bill – which for a handbag was reportedly €9,000.

When Anne’s daughter warned her mother that she was being cheated, she told her: “You’ll see when he gets there in person, you’ll say sorry to him.” »

Eventually, AI photos were sent showing Brad Pitt hospitalized with kidney cancer. He needed money for treatment, under the pretext that Pitt’s real ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, had frozen his bank accounts.

Despite Anne’s doubts, she was reassured by the fake star’s “doctor”, who sent her an email explaining that Pitt was fighting to survive. It was then that Anne transferred around €800,000 to an account in Türkiye.

She said: “It cost me to do it, but I thought maybe I could save a man’s life. »

It was only when the Hollywood star was photographed in the media last summer with current partner Inès de Ramon that Anne realized she had fallen for an elaborate scam.

“I wonder why they chose me to do so much harm like that,” she told TF1. “I never hurt anyone. These people deserve hell.

Since the broadcast of episode Seven to Eight on Sunday January 12, Anne’s story has gone viral. However, instead of celebrating someone brave enough to speak out and expose their vulnerabilities or sparking debates about how to further regulate AI to better prevent these scams, the shameful response has been a wave of cyberbullying at against Anne.

She was targeted on social media as well as with a satirical sketch on one of France’s biggest radio shows. The Toulouse FC football team, which plays in the French first division, made fun of her on put the link to Buy your ticket See you Wednesday.

Many social media users rightly considered the post to be indecent, leading the football team to delete the post and apologize: “We understand that our tweet may have been misinterpreted and we apologize We sincerely regret if our comments convey a negative message. Thank you for your feedback on this error. We promise to be even more careful and insightful in the future.

They are not the only ones to jump on the harassment train, since Netflix France has started promoting “four films to watch with Brad Pitt (really) for free”.

Stay classy, ​​Netflix.

Given the extent of the surveillance, TF1 journalist Harry Roselmack spoke to X to announce that the story “gave rise to a wave of harassment against the witness”, which led the channel to remove the broadcast from its platforms and replay services.

Police are now investigating the scam which left Anne almost penniless and hospitalized with depression.