“It is terrible that scammers reap the benefits of followers’ robust reference to celebrities,” Pitt mentioned in a press release through his rep, earlier than sharing his warning to others who could discover themselves in one other precarious scenario with a purported celeb.
Brad Pitt’s staff launched a press release after a scammer posing as him allegedly conned a French girl out of near 1,000,000 {dollars}.
Earlier this week, it was reported that 53-year-old girl, 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 courting 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 way of his rep, calling the ordeal “terrible.”
“It is terrible that scammers reap the benefits 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 girl such as you that my son wants.”
Whereas Anne was skeptical at first, she stored 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 occurring 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 might obtain presents they claimed to have despatched to her.
“There are so few males who write you this type of factor,” Anne mentioned. “I appreciated the person I used to be speaking to. He knew learn how to speak to girls, it was all the time very nicely achieved.”
Anne then reportedly advised the scammer that she had just 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 on account of his divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie — Pitt has since just lately finalized his divorce with Jolie, eight years after their cut up.
A lady 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 actual Pitt was in a relationship with Ines De Ramon. She determine to confront the scammer, who reportedly despatched her one thing denying the studies. 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, based on French outlet AFP. “I’ve by no means harmed anybody. These individuals deserve hell.”
