Joe Yates
Brad Pitt has issued a statement after a woman was scammed out of $850,000 from a person online pretending to be the actor.
A French woman, known as Anne, revealed that she had been conned out of thousands of euros for what she believed was to pay for the actor's 'cancer treatment'.
The interior designer was first approached by 'Pitt' when an Instagram account messaged her in February 2023 claiming to be the star's mother, BFM TV reports.
Before long, the person messaged her again - this time, claiming to be Pitt himself.
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Speaking to TF1, Anne said she was 'flabbergasted' by the message, adding: "In fact, we're talking about Brad Pitt, I'm falling from the clouds. At first, I tell myself it's fake, but I don't really understand what's happening to me. After that, we will contact each other every day and we become friends.
"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."
After wooing her with poems and declarations, the two began a relationship and the person behind the account later proposed marriage to Anne.
The fake account then claimed they couldn't afford 'cancer treatment' due to the divorce proceedings between Pitt and ex-wife Angelina Jolie, and sent Anne AI-generated images of him in hospital - with one showing him holding a sign saying 'Anne, I love you'.
The account also promised her luxury gifts in return for her €9,000 custom fee, which BFM TV reports she never got back.
And now, Pitt's representatives have responded to the situation.
Speaking to The Independent, they said: “It’s awful that scammers take advantage of the strong bond between fans and celebrities.
“This is an important reminder not to respond to unsolicited online messages, especially from actors who are not present on social networks.”
It wasn't until summer 2024 that the horrendous realization dawned on Anne that the person behind the account was not Pitt after she saw pictures of the Fight Club star with his new girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, online.
By this point, she had departed with almost one million euros to the scammer and reported the incident to police.
According to BFM TV, Anne has been hospitalized with severe depression and it remains unclear if she has managed to recover some of the funds.