Brad Pitt went public last Wednesday (15) to talk about the case of believing that he was dating the actor. In this way, the artist, through a spokesperson, warned his fans about the danger of fake news circulating on social media involving his name.
“It’s horrible that scammers exploit a strong bond between fans and celebrities. This is an important reminder not to respond to unsolicited messages, especially from actors who do not have social media profiles,” the artist’s spokesperson told The Independent.
The 53-year-old victim, identified as Anne, . The criminal posed as the Hollywood star and used the AI tool to create images in which the artist appeared in a hospital bed.
The faker pretended to be the actor and asked the woman for money to help with cancer treatment. The allegation is that actress Angelina Jolie, who was married to Brad Pitt, had frozen her assets.
To the French channel “TF1”, the Frenchwoman stated that the nightmare began in September 2023, when she received a message on Instagram from “Jane Etta Pitt”, the actor’s mother.
“It’s a woman like you that my son needs,” wrote the artist’s supposed mother.
Then “Brad Pitt” appeared: “Hello, Anne. My mother told me a lot about you. I would like to know more.”
The scammer who pretended to be the actor convinced Anne that the two were in a relationship. At the time, she was going through a turbulent time in her personal life. After all, her relationship with a millionaire businessman, 19 years her senior, was practically over”, according to the newspaper “Sud Ouest”.
Anne started depositing money into the account of the fake ‘Brad Pitt’
Claiming an urgent health issue, the impostor began receiving deposits from Anne for a year. He also sent the Frenchwoman AI-manipulated photos and love poems.
Anne only realized she had fallen for a scam when she saw photos of the real Brad Pitt with his new girlfriend, Ines Ramon, on the internet. Thus, she began to suspect that she had been deceived.
From there, she went to the police to tell the story and then began the investigation in 2024. After the coup, “BFMTV” revealed that Anne is hospitalized with severe depression.
French woman begins to suffer harassment and mockery on social media
The case came to light this week and, as a result, Anne began to suffer an avalanche of harassment and mockery on social media. “TF1” spoke about the health problems that the French woman has been going through and even aired images of her, sharing photos of the family with reporters who were working on the case. Thus, critics accused the broadcaster of failing to protect a vulnerable individual, who perhaps was unaware of the consequences of the episode becoming public.
Due to the exposure, several comments and jokes flooded the web. French First Division club Toulouse posted on “X” that “Brad told us he would be at the stadium on Wednesday”, in reference to the team’s next game. He then apologized and deleted the message.
Netflix in France also mocked, posting on social media the promotion “four films to watch with Brad Pitt (for real) for free”.
