Brad Pitt Isn't Messaging You, Rep Warns, After Fan Scammed

"It's awful that scammers take advantage of fans' strong connection with celebrities," a spokesperson for the Fight Club actor told US outlet Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added it was "an important reminder to not respond to unsolicited online outreach, especially from actors who have no social media presence," such as Pitt.

The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as Artificial intelligence (AI) image-creating technology to send the woman what appeared to be selfies and messages from the Oscar-winning actor.

To extract money, they pretended that the 61-year-old actor needed money to pay for kidney treatment, with his bank accounts supposedly frozen because of divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

The woman, named only as Anne, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Pitt and only realised she had been scammed when news emerged of his real-life relationship with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

She was subjected to online harassment after her interview went viral on Monday - leading TF1 to withdraw it "for the protection of victims."

Some online critics accused TF1 of failing to protect a vulnerable individual who might not have been unaware of the consequences of going public.

Romantic scams have been a feature of the internet since the advent of email, but experts say artificial intelligence has increased the risk of identity theft, hoaxes and fraud online.