BBC Report: French Woman Anne Loses $850,000 After Scammers Pose as Brad Pitt With AI

A BBC report says a French woman named Anne lost $850,000 after scammers posed as actor Brad Pitt with the help of artificial intelligence, and TF1 pulled the segment after a “wave of harassment.”

“Based on observed and directly verified facts by our journalists or by informed sources”

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Anne told TF1 that the scam began when she downloaded Instagram in February 2023 and was contacted by someone claiming to be Pitt’s mother, Jane Etta, who told her her son “needed a woman like her.”

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The BBC said the fake Pitt then told Anne he needed cash for treatment for kidney cancer and sent multiple AI-generated photos of the actor in a hospital bed, leading her to transfer more than $9,200.

Anne later said she received $798,000 and gave it entirely to the scammers, and the BBC reported that she has attempted suicide three times since the scam came to light.

In a separate report, Wired described romantic scams using deepfake video calls, where a scammer’s accomplice recorded the call and the face the victim sees is “a lie,” with the scammer using face-swapping technology to change his appearance in real time.

Wired said the deepfake calls were part of scams by the “Yahoo Boys,” a group of scammers based, often, in Nigeria, and it described how they build trust with false identities before tricking victims into handing over thousands of dollars.

Wired quoted David Maimon, a professor at Georgia State University and head of fraud information at identity-verification company SentiLink, saying, “I don't think they do it because they're stupid,” and “I think they simply don't care and aren't afraid of the consequences.”

Associated Press

In France, franceinfo said romance scams are a crime under the French Penal Code when a person contacts you via a messaging service or mobile app to express romantic or friendly feelings to extract money.

franceinfo also said sextortion is punishable by up to five years in prison and a €75,000 fine, with amounts increased if the threat was carried out, and it urged victims to file a police report.

The same franceinfo report said the number of requests for assistance related to sextortion cases in France was multiplied by 10 in 2024 and romantic scams rose by 6%, while the FBI received nearly 18,000 complaints about this in 2024.

An AP/“FRONTLINE” investigation described in SRN News says American technology and American companies are being used to power a revolution in the cyberscam industry, and it said the Federal Trade Commission estimates the cost to Americans at nearly $200 billion in 2024.

“The woman who lost $850,000 after being duped by an AI-created Brad Pitt - Author: Laura Gozzi - Byline: BBC News - Publication date - Reading time: 5 min A French woman was deceived and handed over $850,000 to scammers who posed as actor Brad Pitt with the help of artificial intelligence”

BBC

SRN News reported that the AP identified two suites of software used by scammers at compounds in Southeast Asia and said OpenAI’s ChatGPT played the most prominent role, along with Google’s Gemini, according to an analysis with security nonprofit C4ADS.

The AP investigation also said watchdogs believe satellite internet, AI and internet infrastructure companies have the technical capacity to do more to protect consumers but lack the legal, regulatory and business incentives to crack down.

In the same SRN News account, Sascha Meinrath of Penn State University said, “This is the problem. It’s identifiable, it’s addressable — at least somewhat — but it costs something.”

The Canadian Press photo essay based on the same AP/“FRONTLINE” investigation said Colocousis lost the $400,000 he invested under “Eliza’s” guidance, while Koorimannil said he paid more than $5,000 for his freedom after being trafficked to a scam compound.