Imagine something so astounding happening in real life that it sounds like a script of a thrilling Hollywood movie! That’s what happened a couple of years back. A 53-year-old woman from France lost almost GBP 700,000 to scammers pretending to be Brad Pitt.
It’s the kind of scam and story that makes people shake their heads, gossip, or just feel sad for everyone involved.
Let’s rewind.
The woman who gave away her savings to fake Brad PittPer Euro News, the woman, Anne, thought she’d found love with the real Hollywood star. After months of heartfelt messages, late-night confessions, and talk of marriage, she truly believed it. Behind the screen, though, was a group of fraudsters using fake identities and AI-generated images to pull her in.
Now, Anne’s life is nothing like it was. She’s homeless, fighting depression, and working to put herself back together. But here’s the twist: she says she doesn’t regret what happened. In fact, she thinks it actually set her free from a marriage that made her miserable. In her words, that’s the one good thing she got out of it.
How Anne fell for fake Brad PittSo, how did this all happen? It started back in early 2023. Anne got a message on Instagram, supposedly from Brad Pitt’s mother. Then came a second account; this time, ‘Brad Pitt’ himself. She didn’t trust it at first. But the messages kept coming, and they were convincing. The fake Pitt sent her poems, love notes, and even talked about a life together. It felt real. She fell for it.
The scammers had their tricks. They used AI to make fake photos and videos: some even showed Pitt in hospital beds, looking sick. Then, he told her he had kidney cancer and needed help. His bank accounts were frozen, he said, thanks to his messy divorce from Angelina Jolie. He asked for money. Anne, convinced she was saving the man she loved, started sending cash. A lot of it.
Over about a year, Anne wired them nearly all the money she’d gotten from her own divorce. She kept going even when her daughter warned her. She got fake emails from “doctors.” She was sent phony luxury gifts, but had to pay fake “customs fees.” The scammer always dodged video calls, but made up for it with slick AI visuals. He even proposed marriage.
Over time, she sent around EURO 800,000–830,000 (approximately GBP 700,000 or USD 850,000) to accounts linked to the scammers, and this went on for over more than a year.
The illusion only broke in 2024. Anne saw Brad Pitt’s real-life photos in the news, as he was out in public with his partner, Ines de Ramon. That’s when it finally clicked. The man she thought she loved didn’t exist after all.
But by then, it was too late. Anne had lost everything: her savings, her belongings, even her home. She ended up staying with a friend, completely broke. The emotional fallout was just as brutal. She slipped into depression and, according to reports, tried to end her life several times. She got help, but the pain lingered.
The aftermath of losing it allAnne’s story caught fire online after she shared it on French TV. But things turned ugly, as people relentlessly mocked her, bullied her, and the segment was eventually pulled from the air.
Strangely, per The Sun, Anne says she’s “glad” it all happened. Not because of the scam, obviously, but because it forced her out of what she calls a “gilded prison.” Her old life, the one before the scam, felt just as suffocating in its own way. Now, even with nothing, she feels she’s at least free.
People online couldn’t decide if they admired her honesty or just couldn’t understand her emotions at all. But Anne’s story isn’t a one-off incident; if at all, this came as a warning. Scams like this, where crooks pose as celebrities, are very common nowadays. They prey on loneliness and trust, and they’re getting more advanced every year.
According to The Guardian, Brad Pitt’s team called the situation “awful” and reminded everyone that real celebrities don’t just slide into your DMs. If someone claiming to be a movie star asks you for money, it’s almost always a scam. Anne learned that lesson the hard way.
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