We all have our ‘Brad Pitt’ and cyber-scammers intend to find out yours
French woman in love with AI image lost $850,000
A photo of the real Brad Pitt from X.
The French woman who got scammed out of $850,000 after believing she was in a relationship with Brad Pitt got a lot of laughs.
In case you missed it, the woman, known only as Anne, went public earlier this year about how she was tricked online. AI was used to send her what appeared to be selfies and messages from Brad Pitt.
The story was that Brad needed money urgently for a medical operation, but that his ex-wife Angelina Jolie had frozen his bank account during their divorce.
So Anne tried to help the person she thought was Brad Pitt by transferring the funds. Long story short, the money’s not coming back, and real Brad was in a real relationship with someone else all along.
The media interview where Anne revealed all this triggered a wave of online mockery which can only have added to her suffering.
Those who laughed missed the point.
We all have a Brad Pitt inside us, an ill-defined bundle of vulnerabilities and aspirations which could, in certain circumstances, take over our life and start making some profoundly irrational decisions.
If you don’t have much money, then cyber-criminals have no interest in what your ‘Brad Pitt’ might be.
But if you are worth robbing, then your ‘Brad Pitt’ is worth finding out about, using the most sophisticated AI technology available. AI can conjure up ever more slick and convincing representations of all the usual varieties of Brad Pitt known to mankind.
And the criminals using the AI will keep going to refine and improve their scenarios.
Nigeria’s ‘Yahoo Boys’
France is now investigating the Brad Pitt case. The location of the scammers has not been officially established. But the founder of an anti-scamming website in France called FindmyScammer.com has told the French press that the scam originated in Nigeria.
Nigerian cyber-criminals are known in the local slang as “Yahoo Boys.” Some elements of the operating methods of the Yahoo Boys are provided in an open-access research paper from Adebayo Benedict Soares and Suleman Lazarus in 2024.[1]
Their analysis of 50 convicted cases of online romance scammers showed that 70% of the offenders mainly targeted women, while only 14% went for mainly male victims. Almost three-quarters of the offenders (74%) were university students.
These students were not hardened criminals, but embarked on the path of cyber-crime due to a lack of alternatives. “Higher education, coupled with limited legitimate job prospects, appears to facilitate entry into online fraud,” the research finds.
Creating more legitimate jobs in countries in Nigeria would obviously help, but it’s not going to happen quickly. There is a clear need for Western governments to do more to protect their citizens. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, losses linked to online romance scams reached $1.3 billion in 2023.
Nigeria is only one of the places where cyber-crime has developed into a specialized economic activity. Since Covid-19, industrial-scale cyber-crime has also developed in Southeast Asia, driven, among other factors, by the need for Chinese-owned casinos in the region to find new revenue sources due to the pandemic.
Chinese cyber-criminals are known to be operating in Nigeria as well as in Southeast Asia. In December 2024, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested 148 Chinese scammers as part of a single operation which detained 792 suspects in Lagos.
Wherever they are operating, Chinese cyber-crime gangs need to launder the proceeds in the formal economy.
At the moment, it’s all too easy.
The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has, to date, been unable to secure widespread take-up of its “Travel Rule”. This rule obliges Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to collect and transmit information about the originators and beneficiaries of crypto transactions.
Much more consistent public education on the evolving dangers from cyber-crime is essential. But education and prevention alone will never be enough. Countries need to close the door on the laundering or receipts. Even if they claim to be part of the solution, countries which continue to ignore the Travel Rule are part of the problem.
[1] Examining fifty cases of convicted online romance fraud offenders, Criminal Justice Studies 2024 37, 4? 328-351. Full article: Examining fifty cases of convicted online romance fraud offenders
It's funny and at the same time not. Here's one for you, a family friend, a widow in her 50's, being heartbroken at the loss of her husband who was ex service, was targeted based on her Facebook profile having military spouse signifiers. For over a year she believed she was in a relationship with a United States General. Similarly they were using the 'medical operation' scam. A non celebrity was her Brad Pitt and David's right - we all have our Brad Pitt.
Great article David thanks.
Hey David, have you seen ice berg, it has height of 15 metre or more. But the depth is 2x. Similar is the use of AI, many people don't understand how AInternet crimes are taking place. More AI benefit them financially, the more it destroys people image if misused.
Same happen during internet boom, many looted through viruses, some used the path of cybercrime, some fake company calls and still they are prevalent.
Some happening with use of AI today.
Thank you for sharing and keep writing 👍👏