A woman known only as Anne was deceived by a fraudster posing as Brad Pitt through AI, losing £700,000 in the process. Now homeless and suffering from severe depression, she lives with friends while trying to recover her funds. Anne, who attempted suicide three times, faces online harassment and ridicule after revealing her ordeal. Her Paris-based lawyer, Lorraine Hanna, highlights the need for compassion toward victims of scams. The scam began with a message claiming to be from Pitt’s mother, evolving into demands for money under the guise of urgent cancer treatment. Authorities are investigating the situation.
A woman who was tricked into handing over £700,000 by a fraudster who used AI to pretend to be Brad Pitt is now suffering from ‘severe depression’ and is desperately trying to get her money back while she is homeless, penniless and living with friends. It became clear that he was about to.
The victim, known only as Anne, claims her ordeal is the cause of her troubles, but her lawyer has exclusively revealed her problems to the Daily Mail.
Paris-based lawyer Lorraine Hanna has been so relentlessly harassed online that her client has been branded “stupid,” “naive” and “stupid” and has deleted all of her social media pages. He said he deleted it.
Read more about the tragic details of Anne’s plight and the emotional toll it has taken on her in this exclusive Mail+ interview.
Hanna said Anne had attempted suicide three times and was still exposed to online ridicule.
The victim became a target of trolls after revealing she parted with funds she believed were meant for the movie star’s cancer treatment.
Two months ago, Anne admitted to a mental health clinic, where she remains today.
This week, Ms Hanna described her incident as “horrible” and said she was “surprised” by the reaction on social media.
The victim, known only as Anne, became the target of trolls after revealing she was fooled by an AI version of Brad Pitt
The victim, known only as Anne, is currently suffering from “severe depression” and is homeless, penniless and living with friends.
Actor Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes in the movie “F1”, December 5, 2024
“It’s like people are only now discovering that they can be scammed,” she says.
“Internet romance scams are nothing new, and Anne isn’t alone.
“What my clients need is to be given wise advice and treated with dignity.”
Hanna told how she is helping Anne file a civil lawsuit against a French bank for allowing large sums of money to be transferred to overseas accounts without checks.
Anne, an interior designer, said her ordeal began when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be the actor’s mother after she shared photos from a luxury ski trip to Tignes on Instagram.
The next day, she received a second message from an account pretending to be Brad Pitt, saying her mother had already talked about her a lot.
The victim, who was reportedly going through a difficult time in her relationship with her billionaire husband, told how she struck up an unlikely friendship with the account starting in February 2023, receiving poems and kind affirmations.
Scammer sent her a gross Photoshopped image of Brad Pitt in the hospital
One of many improperly generated images sent by scammers that appear to be from hospital beds.
The victim announced that she was divorcing her wealthy husband and began receiving demands for large sums of money.
“Very few men will write you something like this. I liked the guy I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women and was always very good at it.” BFMTV reported.
She revealed that she was suspicious and thought the account was fake at first, but after sending daily messages and receiving AI-generated photos and videos of the star, she felt more at ease.
Soon, the blossoming relationship was turned upside down as the fake Brad Pitt proposed to her and overwhelmed her with promises of lavish gifts.
The only problem was that I had to pay customs duty to receive them. This quickly amounted to €9,000 (£7,566).
Since the victim had already indicated a willingness to part with the money, the scammer continued with more unreasonable demands.
When the victim told a “friend” that she expected a large divorce settlement from her husband, the scammer upped the ante.
Brad Pitt’s account appealed for funding for his emergency kidney cancer treatment, lamenting his inability to access funds due to his ongoing divorce from Angelina Jolie.
Anne parted with nearly 1 million euros before suspicions arose
She started having doubts when the star was not in the hospital and was photographed with his new partner
Some of the AI-generated photos are going viral on social media.
The scammer reportedly began sending AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt, apparently from a confined area of his hospital bed.
The two communicated via text and photos, but the victim said she was unable to make a phone call (a common practice among online scammers).
In total, she parted with nearly 1 million euros during their relationship, until suspicions arose after seeing the actor and his new girlfriend Ines de Ramon in the press.
The victim took the story to authorities, who began an investigation.
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