How Angelina Jolie got drawn into ex-husband Brad Pitt's 'awful' $850k scam

The former couple finally reached a divorce settlement after an eight-year legal battle at the end of 2024

Despite having separated back in 2016, and finally reaching a divorce settlement at the end of 2024, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s ties remain linked.

Such was the case in news of a French woman allegedly duped out of nearly $850,000 in an AI-related scam that had her believe she was dating Brad himself.

Per a report from French television network TF1 (the original broadcast of which has since been deleted), a woman simply going by the name of Anne claimed that she had been robbed of the exorbitant sum by a man pretending to be the star.

The Times shared further details of the case. When the woman, an interior designer, took to Instagram to share photographs from her ski trip, she was contacted by someone claiming to be Jane Etta Pitt, Brad’s mother.

“It’s a woman like you that my son needs,” Anne said was the message she received from Jane. She was skeptical at first, but eventually came in contact with the fake Brad, who texted her: “My mother told me a lot about you.”

She eventually found herself drawn to the fake Brad, adding he “knew how to talk to women,” and when she questioned his authenticity, he would send her artificial intelligence-generated videos and photos of himself. Anne also added that through accomplices of her trickster, she spoke with his “agent” and one of his daughters with Angelina, “Shiloh.”

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At one point, he asked her to send around $10,000 for customs tariffs so he could send her presents, including Chanel and Hermés products. She then revealed to the scammer that she was in the midst of divorcing her husband and had received a settlement of nearly $800,000.

It was then that the fake Brad allegedly told her he had developed kidney cancer, and asked her for a loan to pay his medical bills because his bank accounts were tied up due to ongoing divorce proceedings with Angelina, tying her in as well. Anne eventually sent him the entire amount of her settlement.

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She developed suspicions once again when reports first emerged he was dating Inés de Ramón, but the scammer shut those down by sending her a fake TV report denying their relationship. However, when more stories of their relationship emerged, she decided to file a police report claiming to be the victim of a scam.

In the TF1‘s broadcast, Anne claimed that she had attempted suicide thrice and had checked herself into a hospital at one point over mental stress. The report was taken down from the TF1 website to protect the subject from a “wave of harassment.”

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The actor himself shared a statement through his representatives in the vein of a similar scam that took place last year, when two women in Spain were scammed out of $350,000.

“It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans’ strong connection with celebrities,” his reps shared with Entertainment Weekly. “But this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence.”