the essential
Anne, 53, was scammed by a “grazer” posing as Brad Pitt. In total, the man from Nigeria defrauded him of 830,000 euros. An investigation was opened in Reunion, where the victim has recently lived.
It’s been a week since the misadventure of Anne, 53, has been talked about. On television first, spectators of Seven to Eight (TF1) discovered with surprise the testimony of this divorced woman who thought she was having a romance with Brad Pitt. It was in reality a “grazer” whose romantic scam techniques allowed him to steal 830,000 euros from the victim over a year and a half. An investigation was opened following the latter’s complaint. To gain Anne’s trust, the man generated false images using artificial intelligence.
These famous images, massively reproduced on the Internet, caused a wave of cyberharassment against Anne. Mockery, parodies… Internet users had criticized the “naivety” of this woman, already psychologically fragile after the incident. To defuse the controversy, TF1 had decided to delete the replay of its passage the day after its broadcast.
Judicial and media standoff
But the story doesn’t end there. Anne now accuses the front page of having reduced her misadventure to that of a gullible woman “fell in love with a fake Brad Pitt”. To the media Legendthe interior designer claims to have “wanted to help someone” but to have been “tricked”. “I am a sensible woman. If you had been in my place, you would have fallen into the trap,” she assured.
Now ruined, Anne opened an online fundraiser to cover her legal fees. She got into a standoff with TF1 whom she accuses of having wanted to “sully her image”. The magazine’s teams affirmed Parisian have not yet received formal notice. The media rejects all dishonest methods, both in the form and substance of the reporting.
-A private investigator on the trail of a “grazer” in Nigeria
The fifty-year-old, living in Reunion with a friend after having almost “lost everything”, filed a complaint with the Territorial Judicial Police Service in Saint-Denis de La Réunion. An investigation has been opened with the financial brigade, reveal our colleagues. The authorities will try to trace the “grazer(s)”, suspected of having siphoned off his account.
Also read:
She thought she was living a long-distance love story and was cheated out of €6,300 by a “grazer”
Marwan Ouarab, founder of a private hacker company, claimed to have identified a suspect from Nigeria. He will continue with Anne the media coverage of this story on M6 Saturday January 18.
