Brad Pitt romance scam

[TwistedWonder]

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/french-woman-faces-online-mockery-after-being-conned-out-of-700-000-by-fake-brad-pitt-13289657

First of all I want you to say that no one deserves to be scammed and I’m sorry this woman lost money but come on, how naive does someone have to be to fall for this?

The photos are so poor that surely anyone with eyes can see they’re fake. And since when did a A+ celebs mum contact randoms on SM?

To seriously think Brad Pitt can’t afford medical treatment and needs money sent to his American doctors Turkish bank account - words fail me.

Apparently brad pitts representative has come out now to say that brad pitt doesn't use any social media sites anyway

Here's a woman who thought she was in a relationship with Dacre Montgomery (Billy from Stranger Things), if anyone is curious how these celeb scams work:

I appreciate that would be the case for many people, total disbelieve that Brad Pitt, or any celeb would contact them, out of the blue. There would have to be a vulnerability of some sort going on, in the first place, that these scammers were adept at tapping into. And yes it most probably could have been anybody who she could have met who was nice to her. She had a need, that was being met, understandable, or not to other people.

I know I would never fall for a scam like this - mostly because if a man ever asked for money no matter how small my vagina would clam shut like oyster. Its just a instant turn off isnt it? Ive had a psychotic break (not aware at the time), and dated unsuitable men and did very very foolish, uncharacteristic and dangerous things in that time that I would never do now, but not involving money but that is purely because I wouldnt find it attractive tbh.

Im considered academically highly intelligent (not a flex), have lots of post grad education, but I spent 21 years convincing myself my husband loved me with all evidence to the contrary. He was emotionally, sexually, financially, psychologically and physically abusive. He turned a young, intelligent, successful woman with rock hard self-esteem into a shadow of her former self. I will never be the same again.

My point is, trauma can completely and utterly break even the 'cleverest' of us. I dont think we should be so quick to judge this woman. On some level she knew - like me - she just desperately wanted to believe it. My heart breaks for her.

If her ex husband was a millionaire...perhaps it would feel less unlikely. Perhaps she has been to events or charity galas/circles where other famous and notable people are present in her social life (you know how rich people with influence all exist in smaller proximities to each other) so it didn't seem so out there to her. Maybe she had pictures of herself on the net and thought he's found me (I'm speculating)

Not like Sarah from a two bedroom flat in Hove or Lisa from a council estate in Hackney being contacted by Brad Pitt which would be unbelievable.

Now for them, it might be Charlie, young Canadian entrepreneur or something that they are more susceptible to. I feel at least when it comes to catfishing, scammers realise quickly what income and social bracket their female victim is in and probably assume identities accordingly.

In any case, adding to the psychological load of the victim who was led along and deceived by public shaming is cruel.

That is a very good point you make@TightlyLacedCorset . The social circles this particular women mixed in, would be very different to people not in that economic bracket.

I absolutely see where you're coming from LadyKenya, but really don't think it's likely to make a difference
Already we have wall-to-wall horror stories on this subject and folk wave them in the faces of the targets, only to be told their case is "different" and that they "just don't understand" ... right up to the point where it all falls apart, and then everyone's expected to feel sorry for them

Rightly or not, in the end there can never be a watertight way to protect people against their own foolishness, naivety and/or greed, so sadly I'm not sure there's much to be done

Equally, according to French reports she’s a beautiful, glamorous woman.

However, that’s not the thing that makes the whole thing so unlikely - it’s the lack of F2F communication and dire photoshopping.

Well obviously if she's used to being around the rich & famous that would put a different light on it that he might contact her.

But if this is not the case then it is still basically a stranger getting in touch & asking for money.

And me. I met my late husband online, by sheer fluke, and we had 23 happy years together until he died. Money was never discussed until we set up home together. 🤷‍♀️

I’ve again, starting a relationship with a lovely guy, by fluke, online - in 9 months money has never been discussed and doesn’t need to be.🤷‍♀️

Just have the common sense not to talk about money. 🙄

You'd think so but my auntie is delighted to be currently getting bombarded by WhatsApp messages from the Prince of Wales asking for a few quid.

To be fair she is in her 80s and not the most tech savvy but I keep having to remind her that the future king is highly unlikely to be messaging randoms online at 11am on a Wednesday morning asking for money that he certainly doesn't need.

I was going to send you the link to the French programme, but it has now been removed from YouTube. I watched it the day before yesterday. For your information, the woman concerned is absolutely beautiful, blond, slim and petit. I would say she is in the top 1% of her age group (50s) for looks. In real life, in terms of looks, style and demeanour, she is absolutely of the calibre that could partner an A-list Hollywood star.

She was also an interior designer with a reasonably wealthy husband and lives on Mauritius, a French island in the Indian Ocean. She comes across in the documentary as of normal intelligence and with style and poise. So, I imagine that, to her, it was not implausible that Brad Pitt would take an interest in her. (Indeed, I too think that Brad Pitt could have fallen for her in real life had he ever met her.)

Unlike what a poster here suggested, the scammer didn’t just write (I paraphrase) “Hi, I’m Brad Pitt, You are gorgeous. I need your to transfer money for an operation.” Rather, she had been in an intensive on-line relationship with him, sharing their thoughts, news and love for each other over months. The things that he had expressed to her were the kind of things her husband had not and that she had always longed to hear.

She said that she had her doubts throughout and blocked him many times, only to unblock him as the draw was so strong. Each time she had doubts he would send a photo or whatever which seemed to be private and just for her (she searched on line and didn’t find the same shots). When it came to the operation episode, she had her doubts again, but thought “I’m in the position to save a man who desperately needs my help”, and so took that extra selfless step.

At a point in time, while the scam was ongoing, she received her divorce settlement: 770,000 euros (if I remember correctly). The scammer was aware of that. “Brad” later needed serious medical treatment, but was having difficulty accessing his own funds, owing to his assets having temporarily been blocked due to a court order in his divorce battle with Angelina Jolie.

The victim’s friends and her daughter, a law student, repeatedly told her she was being scammed (daughter speaks in documentary), but her intense, beautiful, genuine romance with her “William Bradley” (lots of messages, lots of poetic sentiments, lots of laughter and joy, firm plans for a future together) was too real (and appealing) that she just couldn’t believe it wasn’t so. When he needed surgery, she went into saviour/hero mode to make sure he got the care he needed (using her divorce settlement). Again, she had her doubts, but was well aware that American healthcare is very expensive and the system complicated. A need to make payment up-front in emergency circumstances seemed plausible.

She has now been shunned by almost all her erstwhile friends, only has a few thousand left in the bank and is couch-surfing in a long-standing friend’s apartment. Unfortunately, that friend, who is also interviewed, also thought that it was all plausible, even the photos (so was probably being supportive of the romance for the duration).

The victim was new to social media and had just recently opened an Instagram account.

As I recall, she was hospitalised/gone into a residential clinic since the documentary was made owing to depression, suicide attempts, etc. That was stated towards the end of the documentary. Also, towards the end of the documentary, an investigator tracks down the scammers (not in person), but ascertains who they are (on-line), a group of three or four Nigerian guys who were running the scam on about twenty women simultaneously).

A couple of comments from me re. people being incredulous and victim-blaming, as someone above said, often we are “incredulous” that woman stay with men who abuse them and even beat them black and blue, but hopefully recognise that they are (or have become) vulnerable and detached from reality in a way. Ditto the hundreds of thousands of conspiracy theorists who are very often intelligent, normal, well-adjusted citizens, who go on to believe the earth is flat, the Royal family are lizards and all the rest of it. Some intelligent, delightful, capable people have (or develop) hidden vulnerabilities that can be exploited (at certain times in their life/under certain circumstances), it seems.

@WordOfTheDay that's an interesting summary.
One thing I'd be curious about - was a lonely, unhappy woman seeing what she wanted to see in these "beautiful" interactions and messages?

Because many of the scam victims describe getting all this love and attention they've been missing, but the actual messages are woeful. It's all "Good morning my queen, have you eaten", "what is your favourite colour" kind of stuff. Because it's largely Nigerian teenagers.

There was definitely some poetry in there. It was read out. Also, because she was French mother tongue, corresponding in English with her love interest, I think she will not have spotted any ropey English, etc.

They do a lot of copy-paste and probably have copped onto ChatGPT as well now, which will help them sound more convincing.

A middle aged male friend of mine who was deputy headmaster and head of maths at a fee paying boys secondary school was scammed by someone posing as a female. Before I met him and heard his story I thought only stupid people were scammed online; however when he told me the whole story of how he was manipulated and fooled I understood how it could happen.

Interesting @WordOfTheDay

Somebody asked if men fall for this scam too. There’s an episode of Catfish where a man thinks he’s talking to Katy Perry. He meets the person behind the messages but after the programme, he emails the catfish as if she’s Katy because he doesn’t believe that it’s fake.

I’ve seen programmes where men fall for romance scams. The catfish is usually a beautiful, much younger woman from a developing country who has lots of reasons to need money. Even when the host shows that the catfish has lied (eg where they nicked pic from), the victim refuses to believe that it’s a scam.

Do victims go public to recoup some money from interviews ? I don’t judge them for doing that because they must be desperate.

I suspect MH rather than learning difficulties in most cases. People want to be loved or help others so end up being sympathetic to fake stories of woe. The scammers know which strings to pull because the victims have confessed their fears and traumas during the course of messaging.

@WordOfTheDay Very interesting. I’ve seen lots of instances on here where someone tells a horrible story then they are gobsmacked and defensive when posters tell her to run because she’s just described something abusive and horrible. People are so addicted that they can’t see the wood for the trees.

If these type of scams didn't work then there'd be no profit in them and nobody would be doing them. I think some of the financial ones play on greed - can I get something for nothing or much cheaper than it should be - and some of the romance ones play on instincts to help someone or for attention.

They target vulnerabilites in people, often at a time in their lives when they're isolated from others. They build up trust over time. The fact that people carry on believing even when it's pointed out to them shows how convincing it can be.

As PP have pointed out, it doesn't have to fool all of the people all of the time and just because you think you can spot this one a mile off and you'd never be fooled doesn't mean that there won't be a time in your life or a situation when something gets past you.

But those photos are diabolical though.

So, I imagine that, to her, it was not implausible that Brad Pitt would take an interest in her.

What was the reason that he had heard of her iyswim?

Those photos are bad.

Of course there is always the possibility that she knew, deep down, that it wasn't Brad Pitt, but thought it might be a genuine man behind the messages with whom she had genuinely formed a rapport and who was in trouble. She might have thought he started out pretending to be Brad Pitt and just couldn't come out and confess who he really was. She was convinced she was deeply in love and that the person on the other end of the scam was in love with her too. I think people underestimate how intense these scammers can be.

So she could have half-known it wasn't who it was meant to be, but hung on in there because, whoever it was, she was in love with him. Without realising that 'he' was probably a team of several people.

@fluffiphlox Yes, the photoshopping is bad. The interviewer did ask her about that, but, although she knows that she has been catfished, she said "I found the photos entirely believable. I mean that's clearly Brad Pitt in a hospital bed, etc." She didn't seem to be able to see the slight inconsistencies, disproportions in the photos.

@diddl She was initially messaged by Jane Etta, Brad Pitt's mother, on her Instagram account. Jane said some complimentary things about her and went on to say that she was just the sort of woman who would suit her son. Subsequently, Anne received a message from William Bradley saying that his mum had brought her to his attention. I think prefixing it with something disarming like "as cheesey as it sounds" or "not that I usually let my mum matchmake but" (my mum sent me your link and I must admit my interest is piqued..."). Not long after, she begins to realise that he is actually the film actor.