Wealthy divorcee Anne Deneuchatel made headlines earlier this year after she revealed she was swindled out of more than £700,000 by scammers who used AI to pose as Brad Pitt.
The 53-year-old French woman said she was left penniless and suffering from severe depression after falling victim to the online love scam and became the target of online trolls.
After admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital this year, Ms Deneuchatel is back in the spotlight ahead of the release of her new book ‘Je ne serai plus une proie’ (I Will No Longer Be a Prey), in which she reveals intimate details about her online relationship.
The interior designer-turned author said she was lonely and in an unhappy marriage with a ‘selfish and manipulative millionaire businessman’ when she received a message from a stranger on Instagram, claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mother.
After she was introduced to the American actor and they began chatting on messaging channel Telegram, she said she became ‘addicted’ to talking to him and lived in ‘total fantasy’.
So when the scammer gradually began asking her for money, she felt validated and loved – two qualities that were missing in her marriage.
‘My husband had put me in a bind’, Ms Deneuchatel told French newspaper Le Monde.
Anne Deneuchatel was left penniless and suffering from severe depression after she was swindled out of more than £700,000 by scammers who used AI to pose as Brad Pitt
The scammer also began sending AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt
‘He said I should be content to be a trophy. I no longer had any independence. At one point, it seemed easier to help ‘Brad’ than to help myself.’
Months later, she managed to divorce her husband, which she says ‘is the only positive thing’ to have come out of the scam.
She also revealed the intimate messages exchanged between her and ‘Brad’, explaining how she confided in him about her husband, while he told her about his alcohol addiction and loneliness, as well as his divorce from actress Angelina Jolie.
Ms Deneuchatel said she felt like she was in a state of ‘extended honeymoon’ as the world famous actor lavished her with romantic messages, love poems and even a marriage proposal.
‘My queen,’ he called her. ‘You are all I have. I adore you. Baby, I love you so much.’
Over months of daily, sometimes hourly, intimate exchanges between the two, an intensely loving relationship developed.
‘I detached myself from my usual personality to live out a total fantasy. I felt like I was fully myself.’
Such was their relationship that, over the course of 14 months, from April 2023 to June 2024, she transferred almost £700,000 to the person she believed was Brad Pitt.
Initially the money was to pay customs charges on gifts he had bought her. These gifts never arrived, but ‘Brad’ made plausible excuses.
Later, it was to pay hospital fees, as he convinced Anne he was suffering from kidney cancer and needed vast amounts for lifesaving treatment, including a transplant.
One of the many badly generated images apparently from a hospital bed the scammer sent
His own bank account, he explained, was frozen amid divorce proceedings from his ex-wife, from whom he had separated in 2016.
The scammer also began sending AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt apparently from the confines of a hospital bed.
‘Brad’ then fell into a coma, delaying the filming of his latest blockbuster, forcing his online lover to pay fines to the Hollywood studio to which he was contracted.
Ms Deneuchatel, by now in too deep to doubt the identity of the man she loved, duly obliged.
She was finally forced to snap out of it after receiving a request to pay for a £13,000 trip on a private jet.
Emotionally exhausted and isolated from friends and family, Ms Deneuchatel reported the scam to the police.
The people behind the con were identified as three men living in a villa in Nigeria.
She revealed her story on a French TV show earlier this year and made headlines around the world.
The men, posing as ‘Brad’ got in touch with her one last time, telling her: ‘Love, my Telegram account has been hacked by imposters. I will now do everything in my power to ensure our safety. I am sincerely sorry if my lack of vigilance caused this situation.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .