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A French pistillate who was conned retired of €830,000 (£700,000; $850,000) by scammers posing arsenic histrion Brad Pitt has faced a immense question of mockery, starring French broadcaster TF1 to retreat a programme astir her.
The primetime programme, which aired connected Sunday, attracted nationalist attraction connected interior decorator Anne, 53, who thought she was successful a narration with Pitt for a twelvemonth and a half.
She has since told a fashionable French YouTube amusement that she was not "crazy oregon a moron": "I conscionable got played, I admit it, and that's wherefore I came forward, due to the fact that I americium not the lone one."
A typical for Pitt told US outlet Entertainment Weekly that it was "awful that scammers instrumentality vantage of fans' beardown transportation with celebrities" and that radical shouldn't respond to unsolicited online outreach "especially from actors who person nary societal media presence."
Hundreds of societal media users mocked Anne, who the programme said had mislaid her life's savings and tried to instrumentality her ain beingness 3 times since the scam came to light.
Netflix France enactment retired a station connected X advertizing "four films with Brad Pitt (for real)", while, successful a now-deleted post, Toulouse FC said: "Hi Anne, Brad told america helium would beryllium astatine the stadium connected Wednesday... and you?"
The nine has since apologised for the post.
On Tuesday, TF1 said it had pulled the conception connected Anne aft her grounds had sparked "a question of harassment" - though the programme tin inactive beryllium recovered online.
In the report, Anne said her ordeal began erstwhile she downloaded Instagram successful February 2023, erstwhile she was inactive joined to a affluent entrepreneur.
She was instantly contacted by idiosyncratic who said they were Pitt's mother, Jane Etta, who told Anne her lad "needed a pistillate conscionable similar her".
Somebody purporting to beryllium Pitt got successful interaction the adjacent day, which acceptable disconnected alarm bells for Anne. "But arsenic idiosyncratic who isn't precise utilized to societal media, I didn't truly cognize what was happening to me," she said.
At 1 point, "Brad Pitt" said helium tried to nonstop her luxury gifts but that helium was incapable to wage customs connected them arsenic his slope accounts were frozen due to his divorcement proceedings with histrion Angelina Jolie, prompting Anne to transportation €9000 to the scammers.
"Like a fool, I paid... Every clip I doubted him, helium managed to dissipate my doubts," she said.
The requests for wealth ramped up erstwhile the fake Pitt told Anne helium needed currency to wage for kidney crab treatment, sending her aggregate AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt successful a infirmary bed. "I looked those photos up connected the net but couldn't find them truthful I thought that meant helium had taken those selfies conscionable for me," she said.
Meanwhile, Anne and her hubby divorced, and she was awarded €775,000 - each of which went to the scammers.
"I told myself I was possibly redeeming a man's life," Anne said, who is successful crab remission herself.
Anne's daughter, present 22, told TF1 she tried to "get her parent to spot reason" for implicit a twelvemonth but that her parent was excessively excited. "It wounded to spot however naive she was being," she said.
When images appeared successful gossip magazines showing the existent Brad Pitt with his caller woman Ines de Ramon, awakening suspicions successful Anne, the scammers sent her an fake quality study successful which the AI-generated anchor talked astir Pitt's "exclusive narration with 1 peculiar individual... who goes by the sanction of Anne."
The video comforted Anne for a abbreviated time, but erstwhile the existent Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon made their narration authoritative successful June 2024, Anne decided to extremity things.
After scammers tried to get much wealth retired of her nether the guise of "Special FBI Agent John Smith," Anne contacted the police. An probe is present nether way.
The TF1 programme said the events near Anne broke, and that she has tried to extremity her beingness 3 times.
"Why was I chosen to beryllium wounded this way?," a tearful Anne said. "These radical merit hell. We request to find those scammers, I beg you - delight assistance maine find them."
But successful the YouTube interrogation connected Tuesday Anne deed backmost astatine TF1, saying it had near retired details connected her repeated doubts implicit whether she was talking to the existent Brad Pitt, and added that anyone could've fallen for the scam if they were told "words that you ne'er heard from your ain husband."
Anne said she was present surviving with a friend: "My full beingness is simply a tiny country with immoderate boxes. That's each I person left."
While galore online users overwhelmingly mocked Anne, respective took her side.
"I recognize the comic effect but we're talking astir a pistillate successful her 50s who got conned by deepfakes and AI which your parents and grandparents would beryllium incapable to spot," 1 fashionable station connected X read.
An op-ed successful paper Libération said Anne was a "whistleblower": "Life contiguous is paved with cybertraps... and AI advancement volition lone worsen this scenario."
English (US)