Anne Deneuchatel, swindled out of £700,000 by conmen posing as Brad Pitt, has written a book detailing her ordeal.
Anne Deneuchatel, a 53-year-old Frenchwoman who lost more than £700,000 to Nigerian fraudsters impersonating Hollywood star Brad Pitt, has turned her ordeal into a book.
Her memoir, Je ne serai plus une proie (“I Will No Longer Be a Prey”), recounts how scammers exploited her loneliness during an unhappy marriage. The interior designer said she was first contacted on Instagram by someone claiming to be Pitt’s mother, before being introduced to “Brad” on Telegram.
“I became addicted to talking to him and lived in total fantasy,” she told Le Monde. She explained that the con artists gave her validation missing from her marriage, prompting her to send money.
The scam left her penniless and depressed, but she later divorced her husband, describing it as “the only positive thing” from the ordeal. French police traced the scheme to three men living in a villa in Nigeria.
Her book reveals intimate details of the fake relationship and her recovery.