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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Brad Pitt romance scam

298 replies

TwistedWonder · 18/01/2025 10:51

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.

French woman faces online mockery after being conned out of £700,000 by fake Brad Pitt

AI-generated selfies of the 61-year-old actor were sent to the victim via social media as part of a year-long scam to con her out of money.

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

OP posts:
FormerlyPathologicallyHappy · 18/01/2025 11:31

You have to really want to believe that it’s Brad Pitt though don’t you? The photos were so bad.

AlpacaMittens · 18/01/2025 11:33

Yes OK "silly" people exist. Naive people exist. Being naive isn't a crime. Being naive isn't hurtful. Being a fucking scammer is a crime. Stealing people's money is a crime. Can we ridicule the scammers and not the victims?

Deadringer · 18/01/2025 11:33

I just googled Brad Pitt and apparently his personal wealth is 400 million dollars. And he is in a relationship. It took 2 seconds.

ImJustFineTYVM · 18/01/2025 11:35

I think that yes, she was naive etc. But let's take a lesson from the Pelicot trial and blast the perpetrator/s, not the victim. This poor woman was going through a horrible divorce, after who knows what went on in her marriage. Then she was scammed. And now she is being ridiculed worldwide, sketches and memes are being created about her, laughing at how gullible/stupid/naive she is and she now feels suicidal. She obviously made mistakes, stupid mistakes - don't we all? But let's save the energy being put into mocking her for being angry at the people who prey on the vulnerable like this.

DaDaDoDaiDa · 18/01/2025 11:38

Whether or not she has diagnosed learning difficulties, to fall for this scam, this woman was clearly either vulnerable, not very intelligent, or both. It's absolutely pathetic that people have been mocking her online to the extent the story has had to be pulled from the French media. Pathetic.

I wonder how quick they'd be to mock if it happened to their mum, or gran, or sister - but there again, that sort of lowlife would probably take the piss out of their own family if it got them a few 'likes' on social media. 🙄

MythosK · 18/01/2025 11:39

Need to stop the umbrella term "mental health". Its misleading and actually really pisses me off. Lots of people with "mental health issues" are not always vulnerable victims " There are some amazingly brilliant and extremely intelligent people "with mental health issues" that are more than capable running their own lives and achieving amazing stuff. Its also really fucking patronising!

ImJustFineTYVM · 18/01/2025 11:40

And further to my comment above, her bank needs far more stringent compliance procedures.

TightlyLacedCorset · 18/01/2025 11:41

Sorry OP but I think this post is nothing other than kicking someone when they're down. You put the link to the story, so I can only assume you read:

That the woman was suffering from depression at the time of the interview.

That she was going through a divorce and feeling low.

That after opening up, she received nasty bullying online. That is disgusting and indicative of current society.

Here's what happened to me: I lost someone very close to me last year. Coincidentally, I am also going through the beginning stages of menopause. Those two events greatly affected me. A huge tremendous vacuum of loneliness washed over me and I, who have been celibate and content for years, suddenly had this overwhelming desire to be loved by someone. A man. Ok fine. But the problem was virtually any man. It was so bad I found myself considering propositions from men with zero prospects, not remotely to my standards (one had teeth missing and clearly unwashed clothes I found myself to my horror actually considering giving him my number). I just wanted comfort. Safety. Assurance. Affection. I was a walking emotional sieve.

I started feeling really alarmed after a while and actually made an appointment to see my GP to discuss things as I could see I wasn't emotionally stable somehow, but I couldn't see how or why it was happening.

Fortunately I spoke to a relative and she told me it was not unusual, it happens to many women during the change and it was exacerbated by losing someone very close to me. Once I got it, I spoke to my GP and he said the same thing - impulse control and reasoning ability can be more difficult during grief along with hormone changes.

That was all I needed to understand and I'm now almost back to my original balance, but I did suddenly have a thought for and far more compassion for, all those women who get scammed abroad by marrying totally unsuitable younger men. I see it now. I see how it could happen. There's not much conversation about women who are lonely and vulnerable. Women who have lost marriages, or who are at the end of their lives on the sense that they haven't got much time left, but have no one to share it with and then are targeted and exploited by men for nefarious purposes. I really feel had I been targeted during this time period, I myself could have fallen for a scammer, because I would have wanted it to be true and just wanted to fill the void. This woman was going through emotional upheaval possibly depression and not quite able to differentiate between reality and was targeted by scammers whilst vulnerable.

I find all the backlash referred to in the article to be misogynistic. And women have to deal with that too which is also further isolating. Poor woman.

Magicpaintbrush · 18/01/2025 11:42

This happened to an estranged family member very recently, although she thought she had been contacted by Johnny Depp and was going to have a new life with him. We found out the extent literally yesterday, she sent scammers hundreds of thousands of pounds, and we discovered this because she recently died. I can categorically tell you that she was not an unintelligent woman, she was clever and articulate, but she was widowed and developed mental health problems in the last few years, which is what I put this behaviour down to. I just can't get my head around how she could have been duped so easily, falling for the lies of these scammers whilst at the same time pushing away her own family and being hostile to anybody who showed concern. She put all of her trust in strangers on the internet, I will never understand it. They really got their claws in to her and she wouldn't listen to anybody in real life who genuinely cared for her.

Ella31 · 18/01/2025 11:45

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. Considering the large amount of people who get scammed this way, clearly, it shows there are many vulnerable people out there. People are all different, our thinking processes, emotions, run differently too. It's not that simple to just ask how are people fooled by this. They clearly are and I feel terribly for them. Certainly doesn't make me laugh.

Negroany · 18/01/2025 11:49

PineappleCoconut · 18/01/2025 11:27

It's like the Netflix docu-show the Tinder Swindler (spoiler alert if you haven't watched...) about the woman who fell in love with her cousin pretending to be a man. It seemed so bloody ridiculous, but when you watch the show they start small and just kept convincing her.
I don't think it was mental health or learning difficulties, she was just lonely and they were very convincing. They used multiple accounts to pretend to be mutual friends, and were even in a group chat.

That wasn't the Tinder Swindler (which is similar) it was something Bobby. It's a podcast and TV show.

LegoBingo · 18/01/2025 11:51

Easy to see it when you're outside it.

I feel nothing but sympathy

PineappleCoconut · 18/01/2025 11:52

 @Negroany Blush
Couldn't temper the name and googled.

3kgNET · 18/01/2025 11:56

Negroany · 18/01/2025 11:49

That wasn't the Tinder Swindler (which is similar) it was something Bobby. It's a podcast and TV show.

Sweet Bobby on Netflix. It was good.

Iwanttoliveonamountain · 18/01/2025 11:59

There’s not many people with learning difficulties that have access to £1000000

DaDaDoDaiDa · 18/01/2025 12:04

Iwanttoliveonamountain · 18/01/2025 11:59

There’s not many people with learning difficulties that have access to £1000000

We don't know that she has 'learning difficulties' - but in relation to your blanket statement, how do you know? Have you done a study of the assets of people with learning difficulties? I agree it might be hard to earn that amount of money with LD but LD do not preclude inheriting wealth or having money settled on you as part of a divorce, or insurance settlements, or being fortunate with trust funds well-invested on your behalf, or even winning the lottery or similar.

Disturbia81 · 18/01/2025 12:06

Ella31 · 18/01/2025 11:45

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. Considering the large amount of people who get scammed this way, clearly, it shows there are many vulnerable people out there. People are all different, our thinking processes, emotions, run differently too. It's not that simple to just ask how are people fooled by this. They clearly are and I feel terribly for them. Certainly doesn't make me laugh.

Well said..
lots of people with learning disabilities, autism, mental health problems, fantasists, naive people, people just desperate for an escape.. there's so many people who exist who aren't like us.
The older men with huge egos who are deluded enough to think young women asking for money actually want them, don't get my sympathy though.

Eggegggoose · 18/01/2025 12:07

DaDaDoDaiDa · 18/01/2025 12:04

We don't know that she has 'learning difficulties' - but in relation to your blanket statement, how do you know? Have you done a study of the assets of people with learning difficulties? I agree it might be hard to earn that amount of money with LD but LD do not preclude inheriting wealth or having money settled on you as part of a divorce, or insurance settlements, or being fortunate with trust funds well-invested on your behalf, or even winning the lottery or similar.

People with LD can have that money but perhaps they would have restrictions or someone helping them?

EasternStandard · 18/01/2025 12:08

DragonFly98 · 18/01/2025 10:54

How have you become an adult and not been aware that some people have learning difficulties. Do you think it’s kind or appropriate to mock them or is there another reason for this thread?

Where have you read she has learning difficulties?

BefuddledCrumble · 18/01/2025 12:09

It's always helpful to keep in mind that half of the population are below average intelligence.

They shouldn't be ridiculed for it, in fact I believe there should be greater protections for them (and children) online, but that would involve much stricter regulation of the Internet... which is unlikely.

User09678 · 18/01/2025 12:11

Gumbo · 18/01/2025 11:06

Why oh why are the majority of people who are scammed via 'romance scams' women? Are women just a lot more trusting gullible than men, or are there the same number of men this happens to who are are rightfully too embarrassed to admit it?

I mean, this one is ridiculous and pretty extreme, but there are endless stories of (normally older) women sending money to young men in other counties who 'love them very much and are going to marry them, and think they're very beautiful and the age gap isn't important' etc.... Nobody deserves to be fleeced out of their savings, but honestly, why are people still so naive?

I imagine because men are primarily interested in the physical aspects of a relationship. Without that it's difficult to sustain their attention whereas womens preferences for the relational aspect lends itself to drawing them in and developing the more complex scam over time with more and more transactions. Maybe?

Planesmistakenforstars · 18/01/2025 12:12

I can think of people I know who otherwise aren't stupid, but are gullible enough to be involved in MLM scams and TikTok marketing schemes.

My dad, probably the most intelligent person I know, has been taken for a large amount of money because the allure of a women 50 years younger than him was too much for him to listen to reason or engage his actual brain. He is also incompetent when it comes to tech, and could probably believe some of the shit this woman believed because he has no savvy when it comes to anything online.

Obviously neither of these examples are as extreme as this case, but it's along similar lines I think. People who are desperate to believe something will often bury their head in the sand to reason. Some people will ignore red flags if there is even a minuscule a chance of something being true. This women had a perfect confluence of naivety, gullibility and vulnerability, mixed in with mental health issues and probably loneliness and desperation.

NoCarbsForMe · 18/01/2025 12:13

This is a mean spirited thread.

maddening · 18/01/2025 12:14

Whilst money doesn't equal intelligence at the same time how does someone who falls for a scam have £700k to send to anyone.

HollyKnight · 18/01/2025 12:14

It's easy to find things like this ridiculous when you are looking at them from your point of view. These people who get scammed are not like you, though. They've lived different lives, they've experienced different traumas or zero trauma at all, their mental health might not be as robust as yours, and their awareness of the world is not as wide.

I was totally catfished online by a 56-year-old man when I was just 16. That's understandable you'd think. 16-year-olds aren't the wisest. But my 40-something-year-old mum believed it all too and almost personally hand-delivered me to the pervert. She was a very naive woman who was constantly taken advantage of her whole life because of it. It wasn't her fault per se. She just lacked that something that allows the rest of us to see the bigger picture. There are a lot of people like that. You see them on MN. Vulnerable but not vulnerable enough to trigger input from outside services.