French woman loses her life savings of €830,000 to scammers impersonating Brad Pitt

• A French woman lost her life savings of €830,000 to scammers.
• The scammers impersonated Hollywood star Brad Pitt.
• Anne became the target of online harassment after an interview.

A French woman, identified as Anne, recently revealed on the TF1 programme Seven to Eight how she lost her life savings of €830,000 ($850,000) to scammers impersonating Hollywood star Brad Pitt. Following the broadcast, Anne became the target of online harassment, prompting the channel to withdraw the interview on Tuesday.

Anne, a 53-year-old interior decorator with mental health struggles, believed for over a year that she was in a romantic relationship with the actor. The scammers, using fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as AI-generated images, convinced her that Pitt needed money for kidney treatment, claiming his accounts were frozen due to divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie.

Anne said she was first contacted by someone posing as Pitt’s mother on Instagram. “She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne shared. Initially skeptical, she admitted, “At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous. But I’m not used to social media and didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

After the interview went viral, mocking comments and jokes poured in, including posts from Netflix France and Toulouse Football Club, both of which later apologized. TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack stated, “For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw [the interview].”