Brad Pitt responds to romance scammer who stole $1.5m from woman using his image

Brad Pitt has urged fans to be vigilant about catfishing after a scammer allegedly stole thousands of dollars pretending to be him.

The Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood actor has responded after a 53-year-old woman who identified herself as Anne has claimed she was tricked into believing she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, and ended up giving most of her life savings to the imposter.

In a statement to E! News, Pitt’s spokesperson said: ”It’s awful that scammers take advantage of fans' strong connection with celebrities, but this is an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence."

Pitt, 61, does not have any verified accounts on major social media sites, including the likes of TikTok, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

Speaking to French news show Sept a huit, she explained: “I’m not used to social media. And I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

She claimed that the person pretending to be Pitt got in touch and they started exchanging messages, he even sent her love poems.

‘Anne’ recalled: “There are so few men who write you this kind of thing.

“I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done.”

She said the imposter told her he’d been locked out of his bank accounts due to his and Angelina Jolie’s divorce.

The fake Pitt allegedly said he needed money for cancer treatments, even sending seemingly AI-generated hospital photos.

Anna noticed she had been tricked after seeing photos of the real Pitt in public with Ines de Ramon, but by that point, she had given him around US$850,000 ($1.5 million).

She added: “I ask myself why they chose me to do such harm like this? I’ve never harmed anyone. These people deserve hell.”