A WOMAN who was scammed into giving nearly one million euros to a scammer posing as Brad Pitt has been left homeless and penniless.
An individual identified as Anne fell victim to a scam in which she handed over a substantial amount of money, totaling more than £700,000. The fraudster had pretended to be Brad Pitt seeking funds for cancer treatment. This impersonator also engaged in emotional manipulation by composing poems and proposing to Anne.
Following the distressing encounter, the woman’s legal representative made a heartfelt plea to the public, expressing the challenges Anne endured. To evade the intense public scrutiny, she took the drastic step of removing all her presence from social media platforms, according to a report from The Daily Mail.
Paris-based lawyer Laurène Hanna said: “It’s like people are discovering only now that people get scammed.
“Love scams on the internet are not new. Anne is really not the only one.
“What my client needs is to be given some sensible advice and to be treated with dignity.”
It has been reported that the scam victim has been left in a deep depression due to the online mockery after the truth was revealed.
She made headlines for sending over £700,000 to a scammer using AI to pretend to be Hollywood movie star Brad Pitt from a hospital bed.
The victim has since deleted her social media accounts after being viciously attacked by online trolls branding her “stupid” and “naïve”.
Having gone through a deeply traumatic experience, Anne, who is divorced, disclosed her struggles, including attempting suicide on three occasions due to the scam. Subsequently, she sought professional help and admitted herself into a mental health facility for support.
Anne, an interior designer, said the trouble started when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be the actor’s mother after sharing photos of her lavish ski trip to Tignes on Instagram.
A day after that, she received a second message from an account posing as Brad Pitt, saying his mother had spoken a lot about her already.
Reportedly, the victim was going through a difficult period with her millionaire husband and struck up an unlikely friendship with the movie star.
The fake Brad sent her love poems and kind words of affirmation throughout their relationship.
According to BFMTV, she said: “There are so few men who write you this kind of thing.
“I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done.”
She revealed she did have her suspicions and thought the account was fake at first.
But, after messaging every day and receiving AI generated photos and videos of the star, she became more at ease.
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Their relationship soon blossomed as her proposed tom her but said tat she would have to pay up to £7,566 to receive his gifts.
The Brad Pitt account appealed for help in funding urgent kidney cancer treatment.
‘Brad’ said that they could not access funds due to their ongoing divorce from Angelina Jolie.
The scammer reportedly began sending AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt apparently from the confines of a hospital bed.
The two communicated by text and with photos, but the victim said he was never free for a call.
Eventually, her suspicions were raised after she saw Brad with another woman in the press.
Anne knew something was up after she saw her lover ‘Brad’ pictured with his new girlfriend Ines de Ramon.
The victim went to the authorities with the story, who launched an investigation.
