Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Brad Pitt Scams Woman Out of $865,000

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

A French woman falls for a Brad Pitt romance scam and it costs her $865,000. For more stories like these, follow me on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGt7X90Au6BV8rf49BiM6Dg

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This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone-based consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu, and Hulu on Dixon. So Brad Pitt is in love with this woman and unfortunately it's going to cost her $865,000. Now her name is Anne and she's 53 and she lives in France and unfortunately Anne has a problem. She's super lonely. I mean she's married to a millionaire but their marriage has already broken up and they're in the process of getting a divorce.

But then one day she gets a message on Instagram from this older woman, Jane. And Jane and Ann, they start chatting and they hit it off, and over the next few months, they become friends. And eventually, Jane is like, you know, my son needs a woman just like you. Why don't I introduce you? Now, Jane's son just happens to be this guy, Brad Pitt. Yes, that Brad Pitt. And so they start chatting and they hit it off and Anne thinks he is foin, because of course she does. You fucking Brad Pitt.

And he's like sending her selfies of himself. and they keep talking and they're texting every day, and soon enough, it becomes romantic. And Anne is just totally excited to be in love again. And Brad Pitt, he's over here sitting her poems that he wrote and declarations of love, and Anne is always asking to talk on the phone, but strangely, Brad Pitt is never available

for an actual phone call, only texting. Well, that's okay, he's probably a busy guy. But eventually, the best thing happens to Anne. Brad Pitt proposes her. her. He wants to get married, even though they've never met in person or even spoke on the phone. And of course, Anne is like, I... Okay, let me stop the story right here, because I gotta say something. I know this is gonna blow your mind. Are you ready for this? Hold your hand while I say this. It turns out, Brad Pitt isn't really Brad Pitt. He is apparently a small group of

scammers they believe are operating out of Nigeria. Sorry, Nigeria. This is all a romance scam. And these pictures and selfies that fake Brad Pitt keeps sending her, they're all AI generated. Shocker, I know. And of course, Anne doesn't know this. I mean, she's not a tech-savvy person. She doesn't know that deep fakes even exist or that AI can do the things that it can do. I mean, she's in love and she's in love with the Brad Pitt. Well, the fake Brad Pitt.

But one day, fake Brad Pitt tells her he wants to send her a bunch of luxury gifts, like designer purses and jewelry and stuff like that. And he sends her videos of the gifts he's going to buy. he says that he's shipping them to her. But then some time passes and Ann gets an email from a customs agent saying that she needs to pay around $5,000 import tax in order to receive these gifts. Fake Brad Pitt is trying to send her. So she hits up fake Brad like, Brad, why can't you pay this import tax? And fake Brad tells her that his bank accounts are frozen due to his very public contentious divorce battle with Angelina Jolie. And so Anne's like, all right, I'll pay the tax. And she pays the

customs tax, but unfortunately, the gifts never show up. Because, as you could guess, there were no luxury gifts. And the custom agent is also just one of the Nigerian scammers. And so these guys allegedly just keep conning money out of her many different times with little tricks like this. And yeah, I know you're like, but Ray, doesn't she get suspicious of all this? Yeah, she actually does, but anytime Anne starts to have doubts about whether or not she's talking to the real Brad Pitt or not, Fake Brad Pitt will send her videos proving that it's really him, like this totally real video message. I shared everything with you, hoping you would help keep my travel plan secret from these malicious people. I'm fully prepared today and informed you about the flight's departure time.

Now, during all this, Anne and her former husband's divorce is finally finalized, and that is when she makes a huge mistake. For some reason, she's chatting with fake Brad Pitt, and she tells him that she just received a... a very large divorce settlement. So of course, fake Brad Pitt, aka these Nigerian scammers, are thinking, jackpot. And so suddenly, fake Brad hits up Ann and he drops a bomb on her. He tells her that he has cancer.

And because his bank accounts are still frozen from his divorce with Angelina Jolie, he has no way to pay for his treatment. And he's like sending her pictures of himself in the hospital, which look totally real and not AI. And he asks her if there's any way she could loan him money so that he can pay for his treatments. And fake Brad's fake doctor even emails Ann explaining the situation he's in and that his situation is very serious and that he might not survive,

so he really needs that money for the treatment. And the fake doctor sends a picture of his ID to prove that he's real and pictures of the medical bills, which are also fake. And so, of course, Anne sends them the money to pay these bills for him. And fake Brad Pitt just keeps sending her photos. even sends photos of himself in the hospital, even pictures of himself undergoing the surgery. I guess that's supposed to be him right here, looks totally real. And from here, the medical bills just keep coming and coming. $50,000 here, $100,000 there.

And Anne, she doesn't want him to die, so she pays them. She feels like she's saving his life. Plus, he's being so romantic lately. He even sends her a picture of himself holding up a sign that says, Anne, I love you. But then, one day, Anne gets the worst news imaginable. She goes online and she can't believe what she sees. Bam, a paparazzi video of Brad Pitt, the real Brad Pitt.

And he's with another woman. Not only that, the media is reporting that this woman is his new girlfriend, Inez. And poor Anne is just shocked and she's pissed off and hurt and how could he cheat on her like this? And so she texts him immediately and confronts him. Of course, fake Brad Pitt denies seeing anyone else, and he scrambles to find excuses. Just wait till I charge my cell phone a little. Just don't leave me, please, baby.

I've had enough. I'm at the end of my rope, but you're not honest at all. Recognize that Inez kisses you in this fucking video, but take your responsibility for your actions and your decisions, okay? Cherie, we talked about all this. You sent me this video over ten times to me, baby. I've begged you, I have nothing to do with her. And so, to prove that he's not cheating on her and that the rumors that he's with this woman, Inez, false, fake Brad Pitt sends Ann this totally real and not AI news report.

According to Mr. Brad Pitt, he is in an exclusive and loving relationship with one special individual who holds an exceptional place in their heart, who goes by the name of A&NN. And so I guess this makes Anne feel a little better for a while. But as time goes on, she can't escape more and more media coverage of Brad Pitt and this other woman Inez. And eventually, it does finally dawn on her. Maybe she isn't engaged to Brad Pitt at all. Maybe it's a fake. Maybe she's being conned. And of course, this reality just destroys her. It's so depressing. How could she not see it this whole time? I mean, this elaborate scheme went on for a year and a half. And in total, with all the import taxes and medical bills and all that, Anne had sent

these scammers over 830,000 euros, or about $865,000 U.S. dollars. Holy shi. But then something crazy happens. Out of nowhere, an FBI agent hits up Ann. And this FBI agent tells Anne not to worry that these guys are a bunch of scammers, but that the scammers have recently been caught. And so luckily, she can have all her money back. But then, the FBI agent wants her to pay five.

thousand euros were the Bitcoin so that they can release the funds to her. So yeah, of course this FBI agent isn't an actual FBI agent at all. It's the Nigerian scammers again trying to get one last payment out of Anne. And so Anne is finally like fuck this and she contacts the police. And so this con is now being investigated. But as of this moment that I'm filming this video, the scammers have not been caught. In fact, allegedly, they're still out there running the same scam. Same group of scammers apparently got another woman, a different woman, to believe that she was dating Kiano Reeves. I'm not kidding. You can't make this stuff up.