If the movie star of your dreams said he loved you and needed money, would you give it to him?
Unfortunately, many would. Nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam to the Federal Trade Commission in 2022, totalling a staggering $1.3 billion lost, with an average loss of $4,400.
In the most recent high-profile example, a French interior decorator identified as “Anne” got scammed out of 830,000 euros (about £701,000) by someone impersonating Brad Pitt and his mother on social networks. Her story was first shared on the French TV program “Seven to Eight” on TF1.
The scam began in 2023, when Anne started using Instagram and was contacted by a person claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mother. “She told me that her son needed someone like me,” Anne explained. The next day, someone claiming to be Brad Pitt started talking to her on social media, and Anne began a 1½-year online relationship with the Pitt impersonator. The faux Pitt sent Anne poems and songs to keep her in thrall.
“I was in love with the man I was chatting to,” Anne reportedly said. “He knew how to speak to a woman.”
Once Anne trusted the Pitt impersonator, the scammer used images generated by artificial intelligence to show Pitt in a hospital to sell the lie that the actor had kidney cancer and needed money for treatment because his divorce from actor Angelina Jolie had frozen his bank accounts.
This lie unfortunately worked, and Anne sent the scammer the money she received in her divorce proceedings.
Following the TV report, people ridiculed Anne’s story online, and it led to TF1 pulling down its original interview. TF1 presenter Harry Roselmack tweeted on his X account: “For the protection of victims, we have decided to withdraw it from our platforms.” It underscores the mistaken belief that many people hold: that this could never happen to them.
You may think you would never be scammed, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility ― at least statistically ― that you or someone you know is secretly trapped in a romance scam. Here are signs to watch out for, as well as ways to suss out AI-generated images:
Subtle signs your loved one is in a romance scam – and what you can do to help
Cathy Wilson is a licensed professional counsellor who works with people who have been financially exploited by romance scammers. She said it is common for romance scammers to impersonate a celebrity because “there’s already an element of familiarity, likability and trust with that person.”
Sometimes families might not realise their loved one is being conned until it is too late, but oftentimes a sudden mood change in the victim is a subtle clue of this problem.
“The person is all of a sudden really happy because they’ve found this love,” Wilson explained. “A change like that could be an indicator.”
Wilson noted that one other potential clue is a family member becoming secretive about the person they are dating.
Above all, family members need to stop victim-blaming if they want to help loved ones. If you outright tell your family member that they are being duped, they may get defensive and shut down. And your reaction also will play into the lies the scammer is telling your loved one.
“One of their tactics is that they’ll frequently prepare the person for people in their life to call them a scammer,” Wilson said. So when you tell your loved one they are in love with a con artist, “it strengthens what the scammer said, which unfortunately builds some trust and likability” with the scammer, she said.
Instead of responding with your own assumptions or with anger, stay present and listen to what your loved one is sharing. Ask questions about how the romance is working, like why they are not able to see each other and how your family member knows the images are not faked.
“Have you thought about...?” and expressing explicit worry is the careful tone you want to take, Wilson suggested, if you want the conversation to be more productive.
To spot AI-generated scams, pay attention to details
In the recent Pitt impersonation scam, the AI-generated selfies of Pitt in the hospital helped to convince Anne that the person she was dating was legitimate. Artificial intelligence makes it much easier for scammers to copy people’s voices and images, but there are still red flags, experts said.
Notice when lighting and proportions in selfies seem off
In the AI-generated Pitt images, the lighting and body proportions are two of the biggest tipoffs of the con, said Leyla Bilge, director of scam research labs at cybersecurity company Gen. “Often his face or head looks quite different from the body and rest of the room,” she said.
In the AI-generated photos of Pitt in a hospital bed, he is also smiling and looks healthy. “Even Brad Pitt would likely look more sick and less photogenic if he was critically ill in a hospital bed,” Bilge noted.
Use what you see as clues that can help you put your online romance in perspective. “While someone might dismiss these issues as ‘weird lighting’ or a ‘bad photo,’ looking at the bigger picture ― odd photos, avoiding phone calls, asking for money and professing love ― strongly suggests a romance scam,” Bilge said.
Pay attention to glitches in videos
As part of the romance scam, the BBC reported that Anne received a doctored news report that had an AI-generated anchor saying that Pitt was in an “exclusive relationship with one special individual... who goes by the name of Anne.”
Eman El-Sheikh, associate vice president of the Center for Cybersecurity at the University of West Florida, said with AI videos, people should watch out for glitches in the video and inconsistent frame jumps, which can suggest if a video “was chopped up,” she said.
Consider the setting, too. Listen for background noise that can help you confirm if the person is where they say they are. “If they’re sitting outside or in a hospital... you would expect to hear something in the background, as opposed to it’s just their voice,” El-Sheikh said as an example.
Verify images and information you receive
In the example of Pitt, it helps to know that he does not have any verified social media platforms. If you get messages suggesting otherwise, put on your detective hat.
Compare the information the scammer is telling you to recent pictures, videos and information being published, El-Sheikh said: “If they were at an awards ceremony in Europe just recently, or they were on vacation somewhere, then it’s likely they’re not in the hospital for cancer treatment.“
Anne reportedly realised she had been scammed when media outlets reported that Pitt was officially dating a jewellery brand executive, Inés de Ramon.
You can also reverse image search to see if someone’s photos are on other sites by right-clicking the photo you have been sent, Bilge said. Click “Copy,” then visit images.google.com and paste the image in the search bar.
“This can help you determine if the photo was enhanced by AI or if they stole their photos from someone else,” Bilge said.
If you do get scammed, know that it’s not your fault
“Like a fool, I paid.... Every time I doubted him, he managed to dissipate my doubts,” Anne said in the TF1 interview about why she kept giving money to the Pitt impersonator. TF1 reported that as a result of the scam, Anne had severe depression and had been hospitalised for treatment.
In general, Wilson said that combatting shame is “the most important” part for victim’s healing after a scam.
And one of the ways to do this is to educate yourself on how it happened so that you can move away from self-blame and realise that successful financial scams have nothing to do with a person’s intelligence.
“What I see in victims is as they pick apart moment by moment how this happened to them, they start to see, ‘Oh, I didn’t have a chance,’” Wilson said. “They realise whether it was fear or urgency or both, the scammers set things up [so that the victim would] gradually trust them more and more and then love them.”
Know that illness is the top excuse that romance scammers use to lure their victims into giving up their money. The FTC reported that the most-used line is something like, “I, or someone close to me, is sick, hurt or in jail.”
Online dating can also be an intoxicating rush when you finally find a match. “Heightened emotions make it easier to miss the red flags and for scammers to take advantage,” Bilge added. Be wary of a date who asks you to make urgent financial decisions on their behalf.
Ultimately, knowledge is the power that can help scam survivors and their families move forward with their lives. As opposed to shaming people, our best defense against being scammed “is to learn how those tactics work, so we can all really appreciate how intricate” these romance scams are, Wilson said.