A French woman has been mocked on social media after losing more than €830,000 (£700,000) to scammers posing as the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.
The 53-year-old interior designer, known only as Anne, thought she was in a year-long romantic relationship with the Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven star.
But after opening up about her ordeal to reporters, she suffered so much trolling that the French television channel TF1 had to pull her interview.
“The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack wrote on X.
“For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms,” he added.
At the time of the broadcast, Anne was reported to have been suffering from severe depression.
Anne told TF1’s Seven to Eight show that, after starting to use Instagram for the first time, she was contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother.
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“She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne explained. The scammers messaged her again several days afterwards, this time posing as Brad Pitt.
Anne said she began talking to the fake version of the actor sometime in February 2023 on different social media and messaging platforms, including WhatsApp.
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She even received AI-generated selfies of the 61-year-old actor.
‘I really didn’t understand’
“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained to TF1. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
Scammers began requesting money, telling Anne that Brad was in the hospital with kidney cancer and needed money for treatment. He claimed his bank accounts were frozen during divorce proceedings with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
She eventually agreed to transfer a large sum of money to a Turkish bank account after receiving an email from the fake star’s “doctor”.
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Scammers ‘deserve hell’
Anne said she finally realised she had been scammed after she saw pictures of the real Brad Pitt with his current partner, Ines de Ramon.
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she told TF1. “I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”
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Police are investigating the scam, but the interview has triggered some social media posts making jokes at Anne’s expense.
French newspaper Sud Ouest reported that Anne was going through divorce proceedings with a millionaire entrepreneur at the time and needed hospital treatment for severe depression following the scam.
A spokesperson for Brad Pitt told US outlet Entertainment Weekly: “It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities.” They added it was “an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence”.
Sky News has approached Pitt’s spokesperson for comment.
