⚠️ Beware of this scam
do not fall into this PITT
TGIF! It’s finally Friday, and we’ve made it through another week! Time to unwind, reflect, and get ready for a fresh start next week. Let’s end the week on a high note!
But before we start, here’s a lil fun task for you:
📌 Do something today that your future self will thank you for
Now, let’s get started…
French woman gets duped by a love scheme
I’ve got a story that’s both heartbreaking and eye-opening, and it involves something we’ve all heard of: scams. But this one takes it to a whole new level. It all started with a woman named Anne, a French interior designer, who was duped out of a massive €830,000 - by someone pretending to be none other than Brad Pitt. Yeah, you read that right. Brad Pitt. But here’s where it gets even crazier: the scammer wasn’t even Brad Pitt. It was a carefully crafted AI-generated version of him.
Here’s how it all went down. Anne, who was going through a tough time with a divorce, was approached by someone claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mom, Jane Etta Pitt. The message told her that her son (the actor) needed a woman just like her. Sounds sweet, right? It didn’t take long before Anne started receiving messages from someone pretending to be Brad himself. This wasn’t just some random guy online; it was an AI-generated image of the star, who sent her loving messages, professing his love and even proposing marriage. At first, Anne thought it was all too crazy to be true, but the more he communicated with her, the more she started to believe it.
She wasn’t familiar with social media and wasn’t used to such personal, romantic messages, so the whole thing seemed real. Brad’s AI double knew exactly what to say to win her over, and Anne fell for it. Over the course of a year, he sent her extravagant gifts, like luxury items, but always with the request that she pay the customs fees. One handbag, for example, had a €9,000 customs charge.
Then, the scam took a darker turn. The fake Brad Pitt started sending Anne pictures of himself “in the hospital” with kidney cancer. He claimed he needed money for treatment, and his real-life ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, had supposedly frozen his bank accounts. Still not suspicious, Anne transferred around €800,000 to a bank account in Turkey, believing she was saving his life. She even convinced herself that it was worth it. It was only when Brad Pitt was seen with his current partner, Inès de Ramon, in the media that Anne finally realized the painful truth: she had been scammed.
Anne went public with her story in an interview on a French TV show, Sept à Huit. But, instead of sympathy and support, she was met with an overwhelming wave of online harassment.
Social media users mocked her for falling for the scam, and some even made cruel jokes. Even a major football team in France, Toulouse FC, got involved, posting a joke about her, which they later had to apologize for after backlash. Netflix France even jumped on the bandwagon, promoting “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free” as if her situation were a punchline.
Instead of rallying behind her, people bullied her, and soon, the TV network that aired her story had to pull the broadcast due to the harassment. It’s disheartening to see how quickly empathy and basic decency flew out the window. Anne’s life has been shattered. Not only is she left nearly penniless, but she’s also dealing with severe depression, as she never expected to fall victim to such an elaborate con.
Police are now investigating the case, but the damage has already been done. This scam serves as a brutal reminder of how technology, like AI, can be used for deception. It’s easy to laugh at the idea of someone being scammed by a fake Brad Pitt, but it’s not funny when you consider the pain and emotional toll it’s caused Anne.
So, let this be a cautionary tale. Scammers can use technology in ways we can’t always anticipate, and it’s important to stay vigilant and cautious, especially when things seem too good to be true.
So, that’s it for today. If you found this edition interesting and entertaining, please drop a like and follow us for more!
See ya👋
