A computer-generated fake Brad Pitt used by a scammer has duped a 53-year-old French interior designer into thinking he was hospitalized with kidney cancer and needed funds to pay for it.
The victim, known only as Anne, paid out the equivalent of $1,227,350. She revealed the scam during a conversation with an interviewer on Sunday with French TV channel TF1.
Since then, online backlash ridiculing the woman’s gullibility has resulted in a decision by TF1 to pull the program. It was pulled from TF1’s replay service on its websites on Tuesday.
Among the social media accounts that mocked Anne was the Toulouse (France) Football Club, which posted on X that “Brad told us that he would be at the stadium on Wednesday,” for the team’s next match. The club deleted the message and apologized. Meanwhile, Netflix France posted on social media that it was promoting “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free.”
Some critics have accused TF1 of failing to protect a vulnerable individual. They say she may not have been aware of the consequences of going public.
The scam began with a message from someone claiming to be the actor’s mother after the victim shared photos of a lavish ski trip in the French Alps. She was contacted by an account user claiming to be Jane Etta Pitt, the Hollywood star’s mother. The scammer told her that she was exactly the woman her son needed.
The following day, Anne received a second message from an account posing as Pitt, saying his mother had spoken about her to him.
The victim said the unlikely friendship began in February 2023. She told the scammer she was going through a difficult period with her millionaire husband, 19 years her senior, at the time. She told the French TV interviewer she received poems and kind affirmations in response.
“There are so few men who write you this kind of thing. I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done,” she said.
While she was suspicious at first, constant, daily messaging, which included photos and videos, caused her to let down her guard.
The seeming relationship increased a notch when the fake Brad Pitt proposed to her and announced an intention to send her fancy gifts. Though, she was told, she would have to pay customs fees to receive them. The value has been estimated at about $13,305.
She agreed and that encouraged the scammer to push for more, especially after Anne revealed she was expecting a sizeable divorce settlement.
That’s when fake Brad Pitt claimed to be undergoing kidney cancer treatment, stating he couldn’t pay for it out of his own funds because Angelina Jolie had frozen his bank accounts due to their ongoing divorce proceedings.
(Brad Pitt and Jolie agreed on a divorce settlement in December of 2024. The terms have not been made public.)
Anne began to receive what were later revealed to be AI-generated images of Brad Pitt, apparently lying in a hospital bed. Meanwhile, she said fake Brad Pitt always had an excuse for not speaking with her on the phone.
Multiple X accounts have shared the AI-generated images of Pitt, garnering millions of views.
At the end of the day, Anne handed over substantial sums to an account in Turkey — until her suspicions aroused again when she saw press images of the real Pitt with his new girlfriend, Ines de Ramon.
She reported the scam the authorities, who launched an investigation.
It’s unclear if any of the funds have been recovered. The victim is now hospitalized with severe depression, reports French TV channel BFMTV.
Generally, AI scams are on the rise, according to online marketing firm Authority Hacker. The firm says over US$108 million has been extracted from victims in the U.S. with the use of AI. This is not the first time Brad Pitt’s persona has been faked in a scam. Five people were arrested in Spain for scamming two women of more than US$330,000 using his image.
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