PARIS: A French woman who revealed on television how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt, has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday.

The woman, named as Anne, told the TF1 channel that she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros ($850,000).

The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as AI image-creating technology, to send Anne what appeared to be selfies and messages from Pitt.

To extract money, they pretended that the 61-year-old actor needed money to pay for kidney treatment, with his bank accounts supposedly frozen because of divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year-and-a-half believing she was communicating with Pitt and only realised she had been scammed when news emerged of Pitt’s real-life relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

“The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack wrote on his X account on Tuesday. “For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms.”

Anne was said by the channel at the time of its broadcast to have been suffering from severe depression and received hospital treatment.

Mocking comments

The interview, in which she was filmed openly and even shared family photos with reporters, went viral on Monday.

It sparked a deluge of mocking comments and jokes, but some online critics accused TF1 of failing to protect a vulnerable individual who might not have been aware of the consequences of going public.

Toulouse Football Club tweeted that “Brad told us he would be at the stadium on Wednesday” for the team’s next match, before withdrawing the message and apologising.

Netflix France also posted on social media promoting “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free”.

Romantic scams have been a feature of the internet since the advent of email, but experts say artificial intelligence (AI) has increased the risk of identity theft, hoaxes and fraud online.

Anne told TF1 that she was first contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother shortly after she began using Instagram for the first time while on a ski trip with her family in France. “She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne explained.

The scammers messaged her again several days afterwards, this time posing as Pitt.

“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained to TF1. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

She continued: “I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this? I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2025