Brad Pitt Responds to News of French Woman Scammed Using His AI Likeness
A story about a French woman who was scammed out of $850,000 recently went viral. What made her story unique is that it was Brad Pitt—well, a fake Brad Pitt—who scammed her.
Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator, shared on the show Sept à Huit that a scammer used the Ocean’s Eleven actor’s likeness to deceive her. The woman also believed she was in a long-distance relationship with Pitt, which lasted for a year. Anne had access to money because she was married to a French millionaire, and by the time her divorce was finalized, she received her settlement, which she then gave to the scammer.
How the Scammer Pulled the Heist
The victim shared that she first received a message from Pitt’s “mother” via Instagram, telling her she was the one her son needed. She then began receiving AI-generated photos and passionate messages from the fake Pitt. The scammer appealed to her sympathy, claiming he needed $1 million for kidney treatment and couldn’t access his money due to his ongoing divorce from actress Angelina Jolie. She only realized she had been scammed when the real Brad Pitt went public about his relationship with Ines de Ramon.
Brad Pitt’s Response
Pitt’s representative sent a statement to E! News about the issue. The statement reads, “It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities. But this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.”
To this date, Brad Pitt does not have any social media accounts.
Anne admitted that she’s also not used to social media and “didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
Mocked Interview
NBC News reported that the backlash and mockery Anne received was so intense the French channel TF1 had to pull out the interview from all their platforms. “The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness. For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms,” TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack posted on X.
The victim was reported to have suffered from depression and hospitalized after the scam.
Proliferation of Deepfakes
Anne’s story is just another case of how widespread deepfakes (AI-generated images, videos or audio) are. Per DeepMedia (via OpenFox) roughly 500,000 videos and voice deepfakes were shared on social media globally. If that figure is already disturbing, we can expect it to reach 8 million by this year.
