A spokesperson for Brad Pitt has responded to widely reported reports that a 53-year-old French woman was defrauded out of $850,000 by online scammers posing as the Oscar winner.
“It is terrible that scammers take advantage of the strong relationship between fans and celebrities,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by E News. “But this is an important reminder not to respond to unwanted online communication, especially from actors without a social media presence.”
The viral story first appeared last Sunday on the current affairs programme September to the end On the French TF1 network.
53-year-old Anne said September to the end The complex scam began in September 2023 when she received a message on Instagram from someone who claimed to be Pete's mother.
Anne told the program that Pitt's mother quickly played matchmaker and connected her with the actor. The scammers used fake social media accounts and AI-generated selfies to pose as Pete in correspondence with Anne.
Anne spent more than a year communicating with the scammers, reports France 24. Eventually, the scammers – still posing as Pitt – told Anne that the actor needed urgent surgery to treat his kidney cancer. They told her that Pitt's bank accounts had been frozen by his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie. She transferred $850,000 to an account managed by the scammers.
Anne realized it was a scam after reading tabloid reports about Pete and his partner, Ines de Ramon. The incident was reported to the French police, who began an investigation last summer.
After that September to the end The episode aired and quickly went viral. The channel later pulled the episode from its website, citing online harassment directed at Anne. French network BFMTV reported that Anne was hospitalized due to severe depression after the ordeal.
