The interview was canceled on Tuesday after a French woman who appeared on television disclosed how she had lost her life savings to con artists impersonating Brad Pitt was subjected to a barrage of internet abuse and derision.
The woman, who went by Anne, told the TF1 channel’s “Seven to Eight” program that she had divorced her husband and transferred 830,000 euros ($850,000) because she thought she was having a sexual relationship with the Hollywood celebrity.The scammers sent Anne what looked to be selfies and messages from Pitt using phony social media and WhatsApp accounts, along with AI image-creating technologies.They said that the 61-year-old actor’s bank accounts were frozen due to divorce proceedings with his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, and that he needed money to pay for kidney treatment in order to extract money.
After learning of Pitt’s real-life relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon, 53-year-old interior decorator Anne, who suffers from mental health issues, realized she had been duped after thinking she was in contact with Pitt for a year and a half.
“The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness,” Harry Roselmack, the host of TF1, posted on his X account on Tuesday. “For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms.”
At the time of its transmission, the channel claimed that Anne was receiving hospital treatment for her acute depression.
“Hell”
She was filmed candidly during the interview and even gave reporters pictures of her family, which went viral on Monday.
Online critics accused TF1 of failing to safeguard a vulnerable person who might not have been unaware of the risks of coming public, despite the fact that it triggered a barrage of jokes and disparaging comments.
After tweeting that “Brad told us that he would be at the stadium on Wednesday” for the team’s upcoming game, Toulouse Football Club took the post down and expressed regret.
Additionally, Netflix France promoted “four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free” on social media.
Although romantic scams have existed on the internet since the invention of email, researchers claim that artificial intelligence (AI) has raised the possibility of online fraud, hoaxes, and identity theft.
When Anne initially started using Instagram, she was on a ski vacation with her family in France when she was contacted by someone claiming to be Pitt’s mother, she told TF1.
“She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne clarified.
A few days later, the con artists messaged her once more, pretending to be Pitt.
Anne told TF1: “At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”
“I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this?” she said. “I have never caused harm to anyone. These individuals are deserving of hell.
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