The Japan Times - French woman faces cyberbullying after falling for fake Brad Pitt

The woman, named as Anne, told the "Seven to Eight" programme on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros ($850,000).

The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as AI image-creating technology to send Anne what appeared to be selfies and other messages from Pitt.

To extract money, they pretended that the 61-year-old actor needed money to pay for kidney treatment, with his bank accounts supposedly frozen because of divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

Anne, an interior decorator in her 50s with mental health problems, spent a year and half believing she was communicating with Pitt and only realised she had been scammed when news emerged of Pitt's real-life relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

"The story broadcast this Sunday has resulted in a wave of harassment against the witness," TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack wrote on his X account. "For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms."

Anne was said by the channel at the time of its broadcast to have been suffering from severe depression and was hospitalised for treatment.

The story and subsequent media coverage went viral on Monday.

Toulouse Football Club tweeted that "Brad told us that he would be at the stadium on Wednesday" for the team's next match, before withdrawing the message and posting an apology.

Netflix France also posted on social media promoting "four films to see with Brad Pitt (really) for free", while other media commentators made fun of Anne's gullibility.

She was first contacted by a woman posing as Pitt's mother shortly after she began using Instagram for the first time while on a ski trip with her family in France.

"I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this," she told TF1. "I've never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell."

S.Ogawa--JT