French woman thinks Brad Pitt loves her and gets scammed

A fake Brad Pitt managed to scam a woman using Deepfake technology.montage watson

A 53-year-old French woman recounts how a man took 750,000 francs from her by pretending to be the American actor.

13.01.2025, 15:0313.01.2025, 15:26

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The bigger it is, the better it works. This is what we say to ourselves when hearing the story of Anne, a 53-year-old interior designer, who testified on the show Seven to Eight on TF1 this Sunday January 12. She was the victim of a scammer pretending to be one of the most famous actors in the world: Brad Pitt. Just that. The latter managed to defraud him of a nice sum of 750,000 francs over 1.5 years. Just that.

Anne, the victim of the scam.TF1 screenshot

How could a mother with no history get to this point?

It all begins in February 2023. Anne is on a ski vacation in Tignes, France, with her husband and daughter. She registered for the first time on Instagram and shared photos of her stay. Very quickly, Brad Pitt’s so-called mother, Jane Etta Pitt, contacted her on the social network.

“She told me in conversation: ‘it’s a woman like you that my son needs’. I answer him: ‘what are you talking about, you’re completely delusional’

The first phase of the trap is in place.

The next day, another account sends him a message. This time, it’s the cardboard Brad Pitt.

“Hello Anne, my mother told me a lot about you. I would like to know more’ (…) In fact, we are talking about Brad Pitt, I am amazed. At first, I tell myself that it’s fake, but I don’t really understand what’s happening to me. Afterwards, we will contact each other every day and we become friends.”

Alibaba version Brad Pitt begins to undertake a virtual relationship with Anne, in English. Send heart emojis, “I Love You”, poems, love songs and even more heart emojis.

He chose his target well, because the interior designer lives in Mauritius with her husband, a millionaire entrepreneur 19 years older than her. But his marriage is failing. The scammer will get his foot in the door.

“I had someone in front of me who was interested in me and my work because my own husband wasn’t even interested in my work (…) It’s as if I lived alone”

“I loved the man I was conversing with. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well spoken”

To prove that he is indeed the international star he claims to be, the scammer sends Anne a photo of his passport, that of his film understudy, Rob O’Malley and even of his handyman. The story becomes even more grotesque when Brad Pitt’s so-called daughter, Shilo, emails him, asking about her and “daddy.”

Despite all this irrefutable evidence, Anne has doubts. She regularly tries to call him, but he dodges it, claiming meetings and filming. To give her the sugar she needs, he sends her a video generated by artificial intelligence, a crude deepfake with a computer voice. But apparently, quite credible for Anne. The hook is now firmly embedded in Anne’s cheek, and no matter how hard she tries to struggle, she will never return to the sea.

From that moment on, the scammer sets up the second phase of the trap: He claims to have bought her valuable gifts by sending her videos of bags unwrapped by saleswomen at Hermès and Vuitton. Problem: to receive them, she must pay customs duties which supposedly amount to 8,400 francs. She does not comply immediately and asks for explanations.

“There, he tells me that his accounts are blocked because of the lawsuit he has against Angelina Jolie, that he has millions of dollars, but that he cannot touch them. I, like an idiot, pay”

She will never see the color of a Birkin.

At the same time, her husband filed for divorce and she received 725,000 francs. Information that will quickly reach the ears of the fake Brad Pitt. And this sum comes at just the right time, since in June 2023, the actor unfortunately has serious kidney cancer. Disease which has not leaked to any media. But Anne is in the know and she has proof. The star sends him photos. We see him on a hospital bed, all smiles. The photomontages are at primary school level. And when the TF1 journalist said to him: Didn’t you see that it was a scam?

“I don’t think it’s fake”

She pays the medical bills. Well yes, Brad Pitt’s accounts are frozen and as he has no other rich friends, like George Clooney, to name just one, he turns to Anne. Normal. 80,000 francs here, 40,000 francs there. A transplant that fails then you have to start again. In total: he took 750,000 francs from him.

“It costs me to do it, but I tell myself that maybe I will save a man’s life”

And because it could be even bigger, Brad Pitt asks him to transfer the money to an account in Türkiye.

Still, it’s not like those around her didn’t try to dissuade her. His daughter Margaux, 22, a law student, never believed this story.

Ultimately, it is the celebrity press that will bring Anne back to her senses (thanks to her). In the fall of 2023, she will see the numerous articles and photos of Brad Pitt, the real one, on the arm of his new girlfriend, the Genevan Inès de Ramon. Moral of this story: you must read watson and the entertainment section to stay informed about the important things in life.

To find the entire report, click here.