Key Takeaways:

• A French woman, Anne, has been scammed out of €830,000 ($850,000) by fraudsters impersonating Brad Pitt.
• The scammers emotionally manipulated Anne, claiming the actor needed money for medical treatments.
• Anne faced significant ridicule online after sharing her story on television.
• Brad Pitt's representative issued a statement warning fans about such scams.
• The incident has drawn attention to the rising risks of romance scams fueled by AI-generated content.

A 53-year-old French woman, identified only as Anne, has become the target of widespread mockery after revealing she lost an astounding €830,000 (around $850,000) to scammers impersonating Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. Her story, initially shared on the French television program Seven to Eight on TF1, has drawn both sympathy for her plight and harsh ridicule online, prompting the channel to withdraw the broadcast amid rising concerns over her safety and mental health.

Anne's disturbing ordeal began when she downloaded Instagram in February 2023. Shortly thereafter, she was contacted by someone claiming to be Pitt's mother, who professed that her son was in dire need of companionship. Within days, Anne was communicating with an account posing as Brad Pitt himself. The scam escalated to the point where Anne believed she was in a romantic relationship with the actor, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer significant amounts of money to the scammers under various pretenses, including claims that the actor required funds for kidney cancer treatment due to financial constraints related to his divorce from Angelina Jolie.

Over the course of a year and a half, Anne, overwhelmed by the emotional manipulation and the fabricated intimacy she shared with this imposter, sent large sums of money without verifying the authenticity of the account. In her own words, she shared on TF1, "At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous. But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me" ([CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-loses-life-savings-scammers-posing-brad-pitt-france/)). Only after learning about Pitt's real relationship with model Ines de Ramon did she realize she had been duped.

The aftermath of her revelation saw Anne facing a torrent of online harassment and mockery, leading to the cancellation of the broadcast.[source][([BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgnz8rw1xgo))], ([HuffPost](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brad-pitt-rep-warns-fans-after-scammer-defrauds-woman-out-of-850k_n_6787bd04e4b087b575309f32)). Fellow contenders in the digital conversation included jokes from Netflix France, which lightheartedly promoted "four films to see with Brad Pitt," and a misguided tweet from Toulouse Football Club that read, "Brad told us he would be at the stadium on Wednesday." This mockery has elicited outrage from advocates who see the necessity in protecting vulnerable individuals in this cyber landscape.

A representative for Brad Pitt has since commented, stating, "It is awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities," reinforcing the need for skeptcism toward unsolicited online encounters. They emphasized, "especially from actors who have no social media presence" ([HuffPost](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brad-pitt-rep-warns-fans-after-scammer-defrauds-woman-out-of-850k_n_6787bd04e4b087b575309f32)). This incident not only highlights a troubling trend in romance scams, which have seen a burst in popularity, but also underscores the growing threat of advanced technologies, such as AI-generated deepfakes, in perpetrating these frauds.

As the investigation into the identity of the scammers continues, Anne reflects on her harrowing experience, questioning why such harm was inflicted upon her. "I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell," she stated, expressing her hope that others might learn from her experience and remain alert to the scams that prey upon emotional vulnerability.