Brad Pitt begs fans to be cautious after identity scam costs woman $850k

Only a short time after a French woman, Anne, fell victim to scammers pretending to be Brad Pitt, we heard about the unfortunate situation from real Pitt.

Scammers first contacted the 53-year-old woman in February 2023, pretending to be Pitt’s mother, before receiving messages from the “real” Pitt.

The scammer feigned empathy as Anne went through a divorce, eventually asking for increasing funds with claims of going through cancer treatment (and that his funds were frozen thanks to divorce proceedings).

Anne was ultimately scammed out of $850K. The real Brad Pitt has finally commented on the unfortunate situation, and he makes a great point.

Brad Pitt says the scam was “awful”

The elaborate scam utilized a detailed array of techniques to convince Anne it was the real Pitt, and used fake social media profiles, WhatsApp accounts, and AI-generated images of Pitt in the hospital as bait. In a statement released to Variety, Pitt’s spokesperson commented on the situation and its implications.

Sony Pictures/TF1

In the response, he empathized with Anne and cautioned fans to be aware of the online era:

“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.”

The sophisticated scam proceeded to the point where Anne had agreed to marry the scammer, which was followed by two hefty transfers of money:  €9,000 ($9,265) attributed to ‘customs charges’ and the €775,000 ($797,823) she received in her divorce settlement. You can read the detailed account here.

Scams have gotten dangerously realistic in the era of social media and evolving AI. Virgin River fans were scammed by a fake Martin Henderson, while AI has allowed diverse scams from selling explicit images of AI-generated, nonexistent people and deepfake scammers walked away with $26M by impersonating a corporate CFO.