A 53-year-old French interior designer named Anne was defrauded of €830,000 ($850,000) in a romance scam involving a fake Brad Pitt.
The scam began in February 2023 when Anne, going through a divorce, received messages on Instagram from accounts posing as Pitt and his mother.
The scammer used AI-generated images and videos, including one of “Pitt” in a hospital, to make the deception convincing.
The scammer fabricated stories, proposed marriage, and claimed financial troubles tied to a divorce from Angelina Jolie. Captivated and emotionally vulnerable, Anne sent significant funds to the impersonator, believing in the promised relationship