A French interior designer sent her entire €830,000 divorce settlement to scammers who used AI technology to impersonate Brad Pitt asking for cancer treatment money.
Anne, 53, was contacted on Instagram in early 2023 by someone claiming to be Brad Pitt's mother, who told her the actor "needed a woman just like her."
The Deepfake Deception
The scammers used fake social media accounts and artificial intelligence image-creating technology to maintain the illusion of a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star.
Anne had recently gone through a divorce and was in cancer remission herself when the fake Brad Pitt claimed he needed financial help for his own cancer treatment.
She transferred around €800,000 to an account in Turkey, using nearly all of her divorce settlement to help what she believed was a man fighting for his life.
Public Humiliation and Harassment
The harassment pushed Anne to attempt suicide three times before being admitted to a specialized clinic for severe depression.
Even Toulouse FC football team mocked Anne on social media before deleting the post and apologizing after public backlash.
Global Pattern Emerges
Police in Spain arrested five people accused of scamming two women out of €325,000 by pretending to be Brad Pitt, revealing this was not an isolated incident.
Investigators identified around 30 victims of similar scams, with perpetrators also impersonating Keanu Reeves using the same techniques.
The scammers in Anne's case were identified as three men in their 20s located in Nigeria, though prosecution remains complicated by jurisdictional issues.
Anne's lawyer is now suing her French bank for allowing such massive transfers to foreign accounts without proper verification, while she remains homeless and in psychiatric care.