A French woman who was scammed out of €830,000 (£700,000; $850,000) by scammers posing as actor Brad Pitt has faced a wave of ridicule, prompting French channel TF1 to withdraw a program about her.
The program, which aired Sunday, attracted national attention for interior designer Anne, 53, who believed she was in a relationship with Pitt for a year and a half.
She has since told a popular French YouTube show that she was not “crazy or crazy”: “I was just manipulated, I admit it, and that's why I came forward, because I'm not the only one.”
A rep for Pitt told Entertainment Weekly that it was “horrifying that scammers would take advantage of fans' strong connection to celebrities” and that people should not respond to unwanted online outreach “especially from actors who don't have a social media presence.”
Hundreds of social media users mocked Anne, who the program said had lost her savings and attempted suicide three times since the scam came to light.
Netflix France published a post on
The club has since apologized for the post.
On Tuesday, TF1 said it had pulled the clip of Anne after her testimony sparked a “wave of harassment” – although the program can still be found online.
Anne said in the report that her ordeal began when she downloaded the Instagram application in February 2023, when she was still married to a wealthy businessman.
She was immediately contacted by someone who said it was Pitt's mother, Jane Etta, who told Anne that her son “needed a woman just like her.”
Someone claiming to be Pete called the next day, which set off alarm bells for Anne. “But as someone who is not used to social media, I didn’t really know what was happening to me,” she added.
At one point, Brad Pitt said that he tried to send her luxury gifts but was unable to pay customs on them because his bank accounts were frozen. Due to his divorce proceedings from actress Angelina JolieWhich prompted Anne to transfer 9,000 euros to the scammers.
“I pushed like an idiot…and every time I doubted him, he succeeded in dispelling my doubts,” she said.
The requests for money increased when the fake Pitt told Anne he needed money to pay for kidney cancer treatment, and sent her several AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt in a hospital bed. “I searched for those photos on the internet but couldn't find them, so I thought that meant he took those selfies just for me,” she said.
Meanwhile, Anne and her husband separated, and she received €775,000, all of which went to the scammers.
“I thought I might save a man's life,” said Anne, who suffers from cancer.
Daughter Anne, now 22, told TF1 she had tried to “make her mother see reason” for more than a year, but her mother was too passionate. “It hurts to see how naive she is,” she said.
When photos appeared in gossip magazines showing the real Brad Pitt with his new girlfriend Ines De Ramone, arousing Anne's suspicions, scammers sent her a fake news report in which the AI-generated anchor talked about Pitt's “exclusive relationship with someone special.” …the one who bears the name of Anne.”
The video calmed Anne down for a short while, but when the real Brad Pitt and Ines De Ramone officially announced their relationship in June 2024, Anne decided to end things.
After scammers tried to get more money from her under the guise of “FBI Special Agent John Smith”, Anne called the police. The investigation is now underway.
TF1 said the events left Anne penniless, and that she tried to end her life three times.
“Why was I chosen to be hurt like this?” Anne said, crying. “These people deserve hell. We need to find these crooks, I beg of you – please help me find them.”
But in a YouTube interview on Tuesday, Anne hit back at TF1, saying she had deleted details about her recurring doubts about whether she was talking to the real Brad Pitt, and adding that anyone could fall for the scam if they were told “things you didn't hear from your husband.” cat.”
Anne said she now lives with a friend: “My whole life is a small room with some boxes. This is all I have left.”
While many netizens overwhelmingly mocked Anne, many stood by her.
“I understand the comedic effect but we are talking about a woman in her 50s who was tricked by deepfakes and artificial intelligence, which your parents and grandparents will never be able to find out,” said one popular post on X.
An editorial in the newspaper Liberation said Anne was a “whistleblower”: “Life today is paved with cyber traps… and the advancement of artificial intelligence will only worsen this scenario.”
