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French Woman Falls Victim To AI Scam Featuring Fake Brad Pitt, Loses $850K

A 53-year-old French woman, identified as Anne, was scammed out of $850,000 in a shocking fraud case involving AI-generated images of actor Brad Pitt.

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French Woman Falls Victim To AI Scam Featuring Fake Brad Pitt, Loses $850K

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A 53-year-old French woman, identified as Anne, was scammed out of $850,000 in a shocking fraud case involving AI-generated images of actor Brad Pitt. The scam began in 2023 when Anne received a message on Facebook from someone pretending to be Pitt’s mother. Soon after, she was contacted by a person claiming to be Pitt himself, leading to an online "relationship."

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French Woman Falls Victim To AI Scam Featuring Fake Brad Pitt, Loses $850K

At the time, Anne was married to a millionaire but divorced him after the scammer proposed marriage. Initially, she sent $9,000 for customs fees on gifts the scammer claimed to have sent her. The situation escalated when Anne sent over $800,000 from her divorce settlement, believing the scammer needed the money for cancer treatment. To convince her, the fraudster sent AI-generated images of Brad Pitt in a hospital bed.

Throughout the "affair," the scammer only communicated via text and avoided phone calls, claiming they couldn't use their money due to divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie. The truth emerged when Anne saw a picture of Brad Pitt with his current girlfriend, Ines de Ramon.

She filed a complaint in 2024 and has since been receiving treatment for severe depression. The case highlights the dangers of online scams and the misuse of AI technology.

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Spain: How 5 Fake Brad Pitts Scammed Women Of Crores With False Love Promises

In a similar incident reported in September 2024, Spanish police arrested five individuals accused of defrauding two women out of 325,000 euros. The scammers posed as Brad Pitt, using online and WhatsApp messages to carry out the scheme.

The suspects made contact with the women on an internet page for fans of the Oscar-winning actor which led them to believe "they had a sentimental relationship with him", Spain's Guardia Civil police force said in a statement. Posing as Pitt, the members of the gang then allegedly proposed that the women invest in various projects that did not exist in reality.

One woman, from the southern region of Andalusia, was defrauded of 175,000 euros ($195,000) while the other, from the northern Basque Country, lost 150,000 euros.

Spanish authorities also revealed that the fraudsters preyed upon women who were emotionally fragile and suffering from personal hardships"The cybercriminals, to capture the victims, had studied their social networks and made a psychological profile of them, thus discovering that both women were two vulnerable people, lacking in affection and a state of depression," police said. "They also used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women until they reached a point where they believed they were chatting via WhatsApp with Brad Pitt, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future together."

Police arrested five people in the southern region of Andalusia, including the suspected leaders of the group. They raided five homes as part of their operations, seizing several mobile phones, bank cards, two computers and a diary "in which the phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims were written down".

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However, officers were able to recover 85,000 euros of the money that was defrauded from the two women victims. Investigators found that, as part of the scam, a bank account network was created using fake identity documents. "Mules" were also used to help to launder money through their own bank accounts in exchange for a small payment.

Brad Pitt AI Scams spain
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