In 2023, the FBI reported Americans had lost a total of $12.5 billion in scams. Those are figures based on what was actually reported. So many scams go unreported, either because someone doesn’t know they’re a victim, or because they’re too ashamed to admit they were scammed. It’s sad, awful, and infuriating that these things happen. Scams are only getting worse too as technological advances in artificial intelligence have allowed criminals to pull more elaborate and realistic schemes. This is in part how a 53-year-old French woman recently lost over $850,000 to a scammer posing as Brad Pitt.
We’d like to start by noting that the victim of this crime went public about it on the French program, “Seven to Eight.” Since that happened, she has reportedly faced so much backlash and harassment that the program has pulled the interview from episode circulation. To that end, we want to note how easy it can be for some people to fall victim to scams. There are a lot of reasons why good, honest, intelligent people can be deceived. Sometimes it’s emotional manipulation, sometimes its fear. It can even be the promise of something greater than what you have. No matter what it is, people don’t deserve to be harassed for making poor decisions that have already brought their world down.
This particular victim who was identified as “Anne” originally was contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother. The fairly elaborate story involved Pitt’s “mother” reaching out for help because her son’s kidney was failing and couldn’t afford the medical bills. Why couldn’t Pitt afford these? The scammer had an explanation for that; his money and assets were all tied up in the divorce proceedings Pitt’s undergoing. Are there glaring plot holes in this explanation? Of course, but it’s an emotional ploy and one that seems to have a sense of logic behind it.
From there, Anne was presented with AI generated photos of Pitt in a hospital bed. They started engaging in sending messages back and forth and Anne found herself caught in what the FBI would classify as a romance scam. People can do strange and absurd things when it comes to just the idea of love; scammers know this and the use it to take advantage of the lovelorn. In this case it didn’t just result in the loss of money but of her marriage too as she divorced her husband.
The scam fell apart when Anne found out about Pitt’s actual relationship with Ines de Ramon. She filed a police report but she’d probably be hard pressed to recover much, if anything from this kind of crime. One can remain hopeful, but these are often the kinds of crimes where the fraudster can get away with it from wherever in the world they are. It’s cowardly, despicable, and all too easy for people to fall victim to. Tools like AI only make it easier when it comes to anything from images to deep fakes to constructing better sounding messages and conversation.
If you have loved ones that you know could fall into a trap like this, please try to make them aware of the dangers of sending money or information to anyone who contacts them online. No one deserves to have something like this happen to them.
“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of the strong bond between fans and celebrities,” Pitt’s reps said in a statement circulated to the press. “This is an important reminder not to respond to unsolicited online messages, especially from actors who are not present on social networks.”
