PARIS (AFP) – A French woman who revealed on television that she lost her life savings to a scammer posing as Brad Pitt faced a wave of online harassment and ridicule, with her interview withdrawn on Tuesday. Ta.
The woman, named Anne, divorced her husband for 830,000 euros (approximately $850,000) because she believed she was in a relationship with a Hollywood star on the TF1 channel's show “Seven to Eight.” ) told the story of how he came to remit the money.
The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts and AI image creation technology to send Anne selfies and other messages that appeared to be from Pitt.
The 61-year-old actor, whose bank accounts are believed to have been frozen due to his divorce proceedings with ex-wife Angelina Jolie, withdrew the money under the guise of needing the money to pay for kidney treatment.
Ann, an interior decorator in her 50s with mental health issues, believed for a year and a half that she was communicating with Pitt, but she wasn't sure about Pitt's real-life relationship with his girlfriend Ines de Ramon. It was only when it was reported that I realized I had been scammed.
TF1 presenter Harry Rothelmak wrote on his X account: “The article aired this Sunday has caused a stir in the harassment of witnesses.” “To protect victims, we have decided to remove this from our platform.”
According to the station, at the time of the broadcast, Anne was suffering from severe depression and was hospitalized for treatment.
The story and subsequent media coverage went viral on Monday.
“Brad told us he will be at the stadium on Wednesday for the team's next game,” Toulouse Football Club tweeted, before retracting the message and posting an apology.
France's Netflix also posted on social media advertising that you can watch 4 movies starring Brad Pitt for free (really), and other media commentators poked fun at Anne's gullibility.
Shortly after he first started using Instagram, Pitt was first contacted by a woman posing as Pitt's mother while on a ski trip to France with his family.
“I'm asking myself why they chose me to do this harm,” she told TF1. “I've never hurt anyone. People like this deserve hell.”
