Brad Pitt responds to ‘terrible’ scammers who fooled French women with his photos | Brad Pitt

A spokesperson for Brad Pitt has addressed the viral story about a French woman who thought she was in a long-term relationship with the actor and was defrauded of 830,000 euros by someone pretending to be him.

“It is terrible that scammers are taking advantage of the strong bond between fans and celebrities,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by AND! News. “But this is an important reminder not to respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who do not have a social media presence.”

The story first published on Sunday in the French news program Seven to Eight on the TF1 channel.

The woman, a 53-year-old interior designer who identified herself as Anne, appeared on the show and shared that she had believed that she had an online relationship with Pitt for more than a year, even saying she thought they were in love.

The relationship reportedly began in February 2023 when Anne, who was married to a wealthy entrepreneur, received a message from someone posing as Pitt’s mother, which later led to another account contacting Anne, this time claiming to be the actor himself.

They communicated with each other for more than a year and a half, says Anne.

The impersonator used fake social media profiles and WhatsApp accounts and used AI-generated images to create photos that resembled selfies of Pitt and even an apparent copy of Pitt’s passport.

At one point, Anne said the person told her he needed financial help for cancer treatment because his accounts were frozen due to his divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie.

She said she received AI-generated photos of the actor appearing at a hospital.

Anne transferred hundreds of thousands of euros to the person for medical expenses, but realized she had been scammed when she saw a photo of Pitt with his partner, Inés de Ramón, this summer.

The program said Anne had filed a complaint with the police about the scam.

After the show aired this weekend, it quickly went viral online, prompting a wave of online jokes about gullibility.

As a result, the channel decided on Tuesday delivery of the repeat services on its websites.

At the time of the broadcast, TF1 reported that Anne had mental health issues, including severe depression, and had been hospitalized for treatment.