A 53-year-old French interior decorator, known as Anne, fell victim to an online scam, believing she was having a romantic relationship with actor Brad Pitt.

The woman paid the sum of 830,000, believing she was helping the famous actor cover cancer treatment costs after it was reported that his bank accounts had been frozen due to divorce proceedings with Angelina Jolie.

The case came to light after Anne was interviewed on TF1’s Seven to Eight. She described being convinced she had been in a relationship with Pitt for over a year until she saw him in the media with his partner Innes de Ramon and realised she had been deceived.

The TF1 channel reported that Anne had been experiencing psychological difficulties and had been hospitalized for severe depression. The show’s presenter, Harry Roselmak, said the episode was withdrawn to protect the victim.

According to the Guardian, the scam began in February 2023, when Anne opened an Instagram account to share photos from a holiday in the Alps. A fake profile pretending to be Pitt’s mother, Jane Pitt, approached her and told her she would be a good match for her son. Then another profile pretending to be the actor himself approached her, stating that he had heard about her from his mother.

The communication lasted a year and a half, during which time Anne received fake photos and messages using artificial intelligence, as well as a purported copy of the actor’s passport. The fraudster also took advantage of the information that she had received a large sum of money from her divorce, convincing her to pay large sums of money for supposed medical expenses.

Anne has filed a lawsuit in the case.