Con artist managed to swindle a French woman out of $850k by impersonating a celebrity. Approximately two years ago, an unknown cybercriminal pretending to be Brad Pitt’s mom contacted a wealthy 53-year-old woman on Instagram and told her that her son needed a woman like her. As they continued chatting over several months, Brad Pitt’s fake mom introduced the victim to her phony celebrity son. He then charmed his way into an online romantic relationship with the victim, eventually scamming her out of nearly a million dollars in an online fraud. The romance scam continued for almost eighteen months.

The bad actor used AI to generate fake images and make the woman named Anne fall in love with the imposter. The victim was so in love with the Hollywood A-lister that she even divorced her husband and was ready to consume her love with the celebrity right after he finalized his divorce with Angelina Jolie. He also needed to recover from a pricey surgery. The woman fell for the scam, and the fraudster asked her to help with the expenses for medical treatment as the scammer convinced her that the Fight Club star could not access his bank accounts because of the ugly divorce with Angelina Jolie. Anne did not hesitate to transfer the money, thinking she was helping her new, famous but bootstrapped soulmate. 

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Anne expected to get her money back once the divorce ended and Brad had recovered. But this never happened. The victim became suspicious of her love story after seeing the real Brad Pitt show up on the red carpet at the 2024 Venice Film Festival with a mystery woman called Ines de Ramon. Even though the fraudster gave bogus evidence linking Anne to the real Brad Pitt, such as fake passport photos, poems, and songs Brad allegedly wrote himself, she eventually connected the dots.  She realized that she had been a victim of a crime. 

The ripple effects: Cyberbullying and Mental Health consequences of romance scams

She filed a police report and decided to tell her story on a French TV show to raise awareness and prevent such crime from happening again to other people. However, after the TV aired her story, she became a victim of cyberbullying and online trolling. Not only by social media users but by businesses. Anne got severely depressed and is believed to be now hospitalized for mental treatment. The French broadcaster even pulling the TV show out of respect for the victim. The real Brad Pitt learned about the story. He issued a statement condemning the scammer’s actions, which exploited fans’ strong connection with celebrities. The identity of the fraudster remains unknown. 

The unfortunate part is that Anne is correct that such romance scams thrive in the online world. Romance scams happen all the time and affect both men and women. Fraudsters prey on vulnerable and lonely people. They work to win their trust and then use the close relationship to steal from the victim. According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2023, people lost over a billion dollars to romance scams. And the number for 2024 is likely higher. Victims of these scams often fail to report them due to embarrassment about admitting they were deceived.

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