Brad Pitt Rep Warns Fans After Scammer Defrauds Woman Out Of $850K

A 53-year-old French woman, Anne, fell victim to a scam involving someone impersonating Brad Pitt on social media. In 2023, Anne was contacted by a fake account claiming Pitt was gravely ill and needed funds for kidney treatment. Over 18 months, Anne believed she had a romantic relationship with Pitt, as the scammer claimed his accounts were frozen due to his divorce. She wired $850,000, divorced her husband, and only realized it was a scam after news of Pitt's actual relationship surfaced.

Brad Pitt’s representative condemned the scam, warning fans against unsolicited online outreach, especially since Pitt does not have a social media presence.

Anne shared her story on French TV, revealing the emotional and financial toll of the scam, including severe depression and public ridicule after her story aired. The swindler remains unidentified, and the incident highlights the risks of online impersonation and scams targeting celebrity fans.

ZNest’s Take

Key Takeaways

• AI-Driven Scams: AI misuse enables more frequent, targeted, and realistic scams, with seniors being disproportionately affected.

• Elderly Impact: Scams caused $3.4 billion in losses for individuals aged 60+ in 2023.

• Deep Fakes: Advanced AI creates convincing fake media, from products to celebrity endorsements to impersonated family members.

• Prevention: Verify sellers, URLs, and claims, especially in emotionally charged situations. Education and vigilance are key to avoiding losses.

While it is easy to laugh off the absurdity of such a scam, AI is easily exploited by threat actors to make cons more dangerous than ever. Everything that makes AI great still applies when misused. It allows for increased frequency, improved targeting, and more realistic stories and collateral.

The numbers are staggering according to reports released by the FBI

• Scams targeting individuals aged 60+ caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023, an 11% increase from 2022.

• On average, each elderly fraud victim lost $33,915 last year.

Older Americans Are More Affected

• In 2023, over 101,000 victims aged 60 and older reported scams to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

• In contrast, victims under 20 were the least affected, with approximately 18,000 reports filed.

Tech Support Scams Are the Most Common

• Nearly 18,000 victims aged 60+ reported tech support scams to IC3 in 2023.

• Other common scams included personal data breaches, romance scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and investment schemes.

Investment Scams Are the Most Expensive

• Investment scams caused over $1.2 billion in losses for victims aged 60+ in 2023.

• Other costly scams, including tech support, business email compromise, romance scams, government impersonation, and personal data breaches, collectively cost hundreds of millions.

Cryptocurrency Is a Growing Tool for Scammers

• Over 12,000 victims aged 60+ reported that cryptocurrency was used to facilitate the fraud targeting them in 2023.

It is now more important than ever to educate seniors on scams and how to spot them. As described in the Brad Pitt scam, one of the most nefarious uses of AI in scamming is through deep fakes.

Deep fakes are realistic yet fake digital media—typically videos, images, or audio—that use AI to alter or create content that appears authentic. Examples of deep fakes include:

• Face swapping: Replacing one person’s face with another in a video, making it look like someone (e.g., a celebrity) said or did something they didn’t.

• Voice mimicking: Generating audio that mimics someone’s voice to create fake phone calls or speeches.

• Lip-syncing: Manipulating video so it appears that someone is saying words they never actually said.

Deep fake scams can range from simple to incredibly sophisticated.

• Simple Scams:
  A straightforward example involves using AI to create photorealistic fake products and listing them for sale. Victims who buy the product may receive nothing, the wrong item, or their payment information is used to steal additional funds. There’s also the risk of the victim’s payment details being sold to third parties. For product scams, it’s crucial to research the seller and ensure they are reputable. While reviews can be faked more easily now, they are still worth examining.

• Sophisticated Scams:
  More complex scams are exemplified by the Brad Pitt story, where scammers impersonate individuals. Romance scams are particularly common, as are fake celebrity endorsements of goods and services promoted on social media. These advertising campaigns use convincing deep fakes of celebrities to lead victims to pages that collect sensitive payment information. A common variation of these scams involves giveaways or contests.

To avoid falling for such scams, it is essential to conduct research. Check the official websites of the brands or celebrities purportedly involved to confirm the partnership's authenticity. As with email scams, always verify that links and URLs correspond to the legitimate domain of the brand.

The ability to create realistic deep fakes has improved dramatically, while the amount of training data required to produce convincing results has decreased. This development is especially concerning for voice impersonations. Previously, creating a convincing replica of a voice required hours of training data, such as extensive dialogue from films, radio, etc. Now, scammers can recreate voices using much smaller datasets.

This change means that malicious actors no longer need public personas with extensive media coverage. Instead, they can create fake versions of family members or acquaintances if sufficient examples exist on social media.

Some scams using this technique fall into the category of bail scams, where scammers impersonate a family member in urgent need of money for emergencies, such as bail. These scams exploit desperation to cloud judgment. To avoid falling victim seniors need to:

1. Stay calm and avoid panicking.

2. Get off the phone and perform due diligence.

3. Contact the family member directly or reach out to someone close to them for verification.

4. If all else fails, contact law enforcement in the appropriate jurisdiction to confirm the claim’s validity.
   The same steps apply to medical emergency scams.

As AI technology continues to evolve, so do the methods used by scammers to exploit it. Education and vigilance are the strongest defenses against these threats, particularly for vulnerable populations like seniors. Recognizing the signs of scams, verifying information, and staying cautious in emotionally charged situations are critical to protection. Whether it’s a fake product listing, a romance scam, or an impersonated emergency call, taking a moment to verify the source can prevent devastating consequences.

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