Because of 'Brad Pitt,' French woman is depressed, divorced and RM3.85 million disappears
Agencies
15/01/2025
A French woman who made a revelation on television about how she lost her savings to an individual posing as a famous Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt. - File image
A French woman who made a revelation on television about how she lost her savings to an individual posing as a famous Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt. - File image
PARIS: A French woman who exposed on television how she lost her savings to an individual posing as Hollywood actor Brad Pitt faced online harassment caused the interview to be withdrawn from the show on Tuesday.
In the Seven to Eight program on TF1, the woman known as Anne said that she believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star.
Believing too much in the impersonation also led Anne to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (RM3.85 million) to the impostor.
Anne was completely fooled by fake accounts on social media and WhatsApp as well as artificial intelligence (AI) image creation technology to send what appeared to be selfies and messages from Pitt.
To get money, the syndicate pretended to be the 61-year-old famous actor who was in need of funds for his kidney treatment.
The impostor also gave the excuse that his bank account was frozen following the divorce process with his ex-wife, actress Angelina Jolie.
What's worse, Anne, a 53-year-old interior designer who suffers from mental health issues, trusted the communication for a year and a half.
He only realized he was a victim of an online criminal scam when news of Pitt's real relationship with his girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, emerged.
"The story posted on Sunday has caused a wave of harassment against the witness," TF1 presenter, Harry Roselmack, wrote on his X account on Tuesday.
"In order to protect the victims, we have decided to withdraw this post from our platform."
Anne was said to be suffering from severe depression and was receiving treatment in hospital when the interview was aired.
The interview was recorded publicly and also shared a family photo that went viral on Monday.
Following this, it triggered various critical responses as well as humorous comments.
Not to be outdone, there are also netizens who accuse TF1 of failing to protect vulnerable individuals and may not be aware of the consequences of revealing their stories to the public.
Toulouse Football Club also shared a joke tweet, saying: "Brad told us he will be at the stadium this Wednesday" before retracting the message and apologising.
Netflix France also uploaded a post promoting "four Brad Pitt-starred films that are absolutely free to watch."
Romance scams have been a part of the internet since the early days of email, but experts say AI is now increasing the risk of identity theft, fraud and online fraud.
Anne told TF1 she was first contacted by someone posing as Pitt's mother shortly after she started using Instagram during a ski holiday with her family in France.
"She told me that her son needed someone like me," Anne explained.
A few days later, the criminal again sent a message and this time impersonated Pitt.
"At first I thought this was fake, very ridiculous," Anne explained to TF1.
"But I'm not familiar with social media and don't really understand what's going on with me."
"I wonder why they chose me to do this kind of harm?" he added.
"I have never harmed anyone. Such people deserve to be sent to hell," he expressed annoyed. -Agency
