“It is terrible that scammers make the most of followers’ robust reference to celebrities,” Pitt mentioned in a press release by way of his rep, earlier than sharing his warning to others who could discover themselves in one other precarious state of affairs with a purported celeb.
Brad Pitt’s crew launched a press release after a scammer posing as him allegedly conned a French lady out of near one million {dollars}.
Earlier this week, it was reported that 53-year-old lady, recognized solely as Anne, was conned out of $850,000 by a catfish posing because the 61-year-old Oscar-winning actor. The alleged con artist made her consider that they have been relationship and proceeded to ask her for assist paying for medical care, sharing AI generated images of Pitt from a hospital mattress.
After the story and the pretend photographs of the As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood actor shortly went viral, Pitt launched a press release by his rep, calling the ordeal “terrible.”
“It is terrible that scammers make the most of followers’ robust reference to celebrities, however this is a crucial reminder to not reply to unsolicited on-line outreach, particularly from actors who don’t have any social media presence,” Pitt’s rep shared in a press release with E! Information.
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Based on U.Okay. outlet, The Occasions, Anne reportedly advised French tv station, TF1, that all of it went down after she was contacted by somebody claiming to be Pitt’s mom, who advised her, “It is a lady such as you that my son wants.”
Whereas Anne was skeptical at first, she saved involved with the individual earlier than she was messaged by somebody posing as Pitt.
“At first I mentioned to myself that it was pretend, that it is ridiculous,” Anne advised TF1. “However I am not used to social media and I did not actually perceive what was taking place to me.”
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Anne first despatched almost €10,000 to the scammer, or roughly $10,300, after they mentioned they wanted her to pay customs tariffs so she may obtain items they claimed to have despatched to her.
“There are so few males who write you this sort of factor,” Anne mentioned. “I preferred the person I used to be speaking to. He knew the right way to speak to ladies, it was all the time very effectively carried out.”
Anne then reportedly advised the scammer that she had lately divorced her husband, and proceeded to ship $800,000 to the pretend Brad after they mentioned they’d developed kidney most cancers and wanted a mortgage as a result of his financial institution accounts have been frozen because of his divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie — Pitt has since lately finalized his divorce with Jolie, eight years after their cut up.
A girl in France was scammed out of €830,000 after believing she was in a relationship with Brad Pitt.
These are the images she acquired, allegedly from Brad Pitt, that satisfied her. pic.twitter.com/DHZklWbUDj
— The Oscar Race (@TheOscarRace) January 13, 2025
@TheOscarRace
The scammer reportedly despatched Anne AI-generated photographs of Pitt’s face over males in hospital beds to strengthen their case.
Issues took a flip, nevertheless, when the Anne learn that the true Pitt was in a relationship with Ines De Ramon. She resolve to confront the scammer, who reportedly despatched her one thing denying the stories. After seeing an increasing number of articles about Pitt’s relationship, Anne realized that she had been scammed. She has since filed a lawsuit and a police are investigating the matter.
“I ask myself why they selected me to do such hurt like this?” Anne mentioned throughout her look on Sept à huit, in line with French outlet AFP. “I’ve by no means harmed anybody. These individuals deserve hell.”
