A man pretending to be the Hollywood star Brad Pitt duped a French woman of 800,000 euros ($819,632) using AI-generated photos from a hospital. The fake Brad Pitt told the woman that he needed money for hospital bills as his bank accounts were blocked due to the ongoing divorce case with Angelina Jolie. The 53-year-old woman named Anne said in a TV show called "Sept a huit" on a local news channel on Sunday (Jan 12) that she received a message from an account posting itself to be Brad Pitt.

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'Brad Pitt' used to send her romantic poems and affirmations of love, which made Anne believe that she was in a long-distance relationship with the star actor. Anne, who was married to a millionaire, caught into the trap when she was going through a rough patch with her husband. 

"There are so few men who write such things. I liked the man I was talking to, and he knew how to talk to women," Anne told the news channel.

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The man used to send her AI-generated photos and videos to convince her that he was Brad Pitt, although he always used to avoid her calls. He even asked Anne for marriage and said he had sent her a luxury gift and she had to pay 9,000 euros ($9,224) to receive it. She never received the gift. 

Later on, Anne's divorce case with her millionaire husband was finalised, and she received $7,94,456 in compensation. When 'Brad Pitt' got the news, he sent her more doctored videos and photos saying he was asked to undergo kidney surgery. 

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In 2024, when Anne came to know about Brad Pitt's relationship with jewellery designer Ines De Ramon, she found out that she had been scammed and was hospitalised for treatment of severe depression. 

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(With inputs from agencies)