Brad Pitt's spokesperson has spoken out about the viral story about a French woman who believed she was in a long-term relationship with the actor and was scammed out of 830.000 euros by a person impersonating him.
"It's appalling that scammers are exploiting the strong connection between fans and celebrities. But this is an important reminder not to respond to unsolicited online contacts, especially from actors who don't have a social media presence," a spokesperson said in a statement to E! News
The story first appeared on Sunday on the French news program "Seven to Eight" on the TF1 channel.
The woman, a 53-year-old interior designer who identified herself as Ana, appeared on the show and shared how she believed she had been in an online relationship with Pete for over a year, and even that they were in love.
The relationship reportedly began in February 2023, when Anna, who is married to a wealthy entrepreneur, received a message from someone claiming to be Pitt's mother. This later led to contact from another account, who claimed to be the actor himself.
They communicated for more than a year and a half, Ana said.
The fraudster used fake profiles on social media and WhatsApp, as well as artificial intelligence-generated images that looked like selfies of Brad Pitt, and even a copy of his passport.
At one point, Ana said the person told her he needed financial help for cancer treatment, as his accounts had been frozen due to his divorce from Angelina Jolie.
She said she received artificial intelligence-generated images that made the actor look like he was in the hospital.
Ana transferred hundreds of thousands of euros to the person for medical expenses, only to realize she had been scammed when she saw a photo of Pit with his partner, Ines de Ramon, this summer, the Guardian reports.
The program stated that Ana filed a police report for fraud.
After the show aired over the weekend, the story quickly went viral online, sparking a series of jokes about the French woman's gullibility.
As a result, on Tuesday the channel decided to remove the episode from its website.
At the time of the broadcast, TF1 reported that Ana had mental health issues, including severe depression, and had been hospitalized for treatment.
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